Manchester United staff must be looking out enviously this month at the reborn forwards reigniting their careers outside of Old Trafford.
Ineos made the bold decision to sanction the January exits of Antony and Marcus Rashford on loan, with no intention to replace them for Ruben Amorim.
This left Manchester United woefully short in attack, yet the club were believed to feel relaxed and content with the options, that was all well and good until disaster struck.
Manchester United’s senior attacking options
- Before January; Antony, Amad, Garnacho, Hojlund, Rashford and Zirkzee
- After mid-February; Garnacho, Hojlund and Zirkzee
The disaster was Amad Diallo’s season-ending injury for United, which leaves just Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee as fit senior attackers. This led to Chido Obi becoming United’s 252nd academy graduate.
To make matters worse, both Antony and Rashford have hit it off on their loans. Rashford impressed for Villa against Liverpool, while Antony has been immaculate.
Spanish media remain impressed with Antony performance
Antony has found his true calling in Spain and is becoming a bit of a superstar for Betis. Antony is up for La Liga player of the month, competing with Kylian Mbappe.
It has been a rollercoaster for the Brazilian, as he scored three games on the bounce for Betis, attracting heavy praise in the process. This streak ended tonight, yet the local press was still positive about Antony’s performance.
Spanish outlet Estadio Deportivo handed Antony a match rating of 6/10, before praising his game.
“Another one who was going to rest but had to leave the starter because of Bakambu’s discomfort. A constant nuisance with his dribbling and change of rhythm for the flamenco defenders. Pellegrini sat him down early because they were grinding him with sticks.”
Additionally, El Desmarque rated Antony the same, writing their own praise as he was labelled the most dangerous Betis player.
“He has given fresh air to the team, and also in this match in which he entered by ‘surprise’ at Bakambu’s discomfort. The most dangerous thing came out of his boots in the hour he played.”
Finally, Betis Web reacted with the same score again, arguing Antony’s quality is indisputable.
“He has taken over the stands and knows it. His quality is indisputable, but today he has been very intermittent and has mixed useful flashes with actions facing the gallery. Even so, it is a constant danger and only a permissive arbitration has meant that it has not caused a gale of warnings to the opponent.”
Antony’s stats for Real Betis against Gent
So far, everything is going to plan for Antony at Betis as he is building himself back up and recovering confidence after two bad years at United.
However, despite the praise issued by Spanish media, the performance was not all that which says a lot about how swept up Betis fans are with Antony.
- 59 minutes
- 1 shot
- 27/35 passes (77%)
- 2/9 dribbles (22%)
- 5/13 duels
- 0 tackles
- 0 interceptions
The stats from Antony’s game tell an interesting story, as it shows that his teammates are keen to get him on the ball a lot. Additionally, it proves that when he has it, there is only one thing in mind which is trying to make things happen.
It didn’t work out for him on Thursday, but he will no doubt be keen to add to his three goals and one assist in the last four.
For United’s sake, we need him to shine so a sale is made easier.
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