Erik ten Hag snubbed 24-year-old Man Utd star three times vs Fulham, showing him exactly where he stands

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Manchester United were back on the losing side on Saturday after Fulham secured all three points at Old Trafford.

It was a dismal afternoon at Old Trafford as the rain poured down with Fulham taking all three points. Manchester United succumbed to a 2-1 defeat which ended a four-game win streak.

It’s possibly the most damaging loss of the season yet because before it momentum was high, but that’s now all gone ahead of a daunting trip to the Etihad next week.

Ahead of the game against Fulham, Rasmus Hojlund‘s absence raised many interesting debates over how the attack should best line up to limit the impact caused by his absence.

One man who wasn’t mentioned by anyone in these discussions was Antony, which just shows how far out of the pecking order he’s fallen.

On Saturday, Erik ten Hag proved that exact point not once, not twice but on three separate occasions.

Erik ten Hag shows Antony exactly where he stands right now

While most of the fanbase decided long ago that Antony shouldn’t be playing, Ten Hag took a little while longer to come to that realisation.

But now he has done and it’s brutal for his former favourite player who was snubbed on three occasions this weekend, even though it was his birthday.

To start, Ten Hag opted to start Omari Forson on the right wing instead of Antony, handing the 19-year-old his debut.

This alone may have said a lot about Antony’s current standing at Old Trafford but in the 51st minute, things got worse.

Substituting an injured Casemiro and Forson off, Bruno Fernandes was then shifted and shoehorned to the right wing instead of the £86m man.

Surely it couldn’t get worse for the Brazil international, but it did in the 80th minute as Ten Hag Amad Diallo was chosen to come on ahead of Antony.

So effectively Antony was the fourth choice for Ten Hag and this was with first choice Alejandro Garnacho on the left. The 24-year-old did make it onto the pitch eventually in the 99th minute to play out the remaining seconds, and he didn’t look thrilled about it.

Antony is becoming a very expensive problem for Ineos and United

The Antony situation could explain why Ineos are prepared to pay big money to bring Dan Ashworth to the club.

Spending £86m on a player who in his second season looks surplus to requirements is a huge failure in recruitment, and it’s happened twice with £73m Jadon Sancho in the same boat.

That’s £159m in transfer fees and nearly £400k-a-week – as per Capology – on the wage bill for failed wingers who United won’t ever be able to recoup the fee on.

With Ineos’ ruthless approach thus far at board level, we’d be surprised if that doesn’t continue with the playing staff and so losses could be cut on Antony, as we suggested Ashworth could ruthlessly do.