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Manchester United put in yet another diabolical display as they succumbed to a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Manager Erik ten Hag’s dubious calls with regards to the first XI and substitutions were to blame as the Red Devils suffered their 14th loss of the season.
Despite the Dutchman acknowledging Alejandro Garnacho’s performance on the right wing as being game-changing against Aston Villa, Ten Hag once again proceeded to pick Antony on the right.
Antony poor yet again
The Brazilian has been woeful in 2023 and has not scored or assisted this season and the same pattern repeated itself at the Forest Ground with the former Ajax star hardly doing anything of note.
Whenever he got the ball, he slowed down the team’s attacking tempo and he never tried to beat his man and instead opted to cut inside and run into traffic.
Eventually, he was replaced by Amad Diallo in the 55th minute, who made his long-awaited comeback after a knee injury.
And despite this being his first appearance for the club in some time, he displayed far more attacking threat than the 23-year-old.
He made one key pass and had one good low shot saved by the Forest keeper and the cameo showed why Ten Hag must refrain from using Antony in the FA Cup tie against Wigan and use the Ivorian instead.
At the end of the game, the manager praised Amad’s contribution after coming on while admitting that his side let him down in the first half.
Amad praised
“In the second half, they [the attackers] were in the match,” the United boss told MUTV. “I thought Amad Diallo came in really good; Alejandro Garnacho played a very good game, I think.”
He did not name the Brazil international directly but fans and pundits did not stop criticising Antony for yet another disastrous outing.
It is clear that the one-dimensional winger is not performing at close to acceptable levels and Amad has proved that he deserves more chances.
The Ivory Coast international has been linked with a loan exit but the manager should try and keep him at the club considering the lack of options on the right.
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