Roy Keane has told Antony that he must work harder off the ball if he is to succeed at Manchester United.
The winger has not scored in the league since October, albeit netted twice in cup games ahead of his start against Nottingham Forest in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. The Brazilian has produced several underwhelming performances since the restart of the season.
The 22-year-old was taken off with 20 minutes to go in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Arsenal after an unproductive display. However, Erik ten Hag has reaffirmed his faith in the attacker by starting him in eight of the 10 matches since the World Cup.
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Not everyone is yet convinced by Antony following his £85m deadline move from Ajax, who has overall tallied three goals and no assists in 20 outings. Keane is one of those, and he told Sky Sports what he wants to see from the summer recruit ahead of kick-off against Forest.
“Another thing he’s [Antony] got to learn from playing for a big club like Manchester United is off the ball working a bit harder,” he said. “He needs to help his teammates a little bit more, but that will come to him.”
Former Forest defender Michael Dawson suggested that Antony could look at the form of Marcus Rashford - who scored after six minutes to net his 18th goal of the campaign - as inspiration to kickstart his own game.
He added: “I think you could say that [it is] his first year in English football. You look at Marcus Rashford, how he’s come back from where he was at the start of the season when Erik ten Hag came in.
“I think he’s been absolutely magnificent, and Antony has to look at him and think ‘I have to get to these levels where Marcus is.’ He needs to bring more goals.
“Sometimes when he gets the ball he needs to go for the defender, put the defender on his backside, but he goes and he changes back or he tries a trick. He needs to up his game for Manchester United but give him time, it’s only early on in his Manchester United career.”
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