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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Dan Brown

Two Antony moments back up 'functional' claim he made before joining Manchester United

With three goals in his first three Premier League matches, Antony couldn't have made a stronger start to his Manchester United career. His flamboyant style was evident in his first outing against Arsenal, and the Brazilian winger has shown that he is able to add substance to his skill and trickery.

Although he is yet to register a goal or an assist in the Europa League, and has blanked in his previous three domestic matches, the 22-year-old has still shown that United manager Erik ten Hag was right to chase him all summer. Despite his electric start to life at Old Trafford, it is clear that the Brazilian is still settling in Manchester - and there is definitely more to come.

The Reds scored late to salvage a point against Chelsea on Saturday evening, with Casemiro heading home deep into stoppage time to cancel out Jorginho's late spot-kick. It was far from vintage United, but they were still impressive against Graham Potter's men, and were worthy of at least a point.

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Antony, who played the full 90 minutes against the Blues, wasn't able to get on the scoresheet, nor register an assist, but his showing against the West London side was full of excitement, but it was also affective. The statistics show it, too.

The Brazilian completed 49 touches at Stamford Bridge - more than any other United attacker, and by some margin. He also completed 89% of his passes and boasted a 100% dribble success rate.

While Antony has, at times, comes under criticism for keeping hold of the ball for too long, his eagerness to please and get supporters off their seats is one of the main reasons why he has become a fan-favourite at Old Trafford. He is under no illusions that he has to deliver with assists and goals, but the Brazilian knows that he has the ability to do both.

"There will always be people who think the tricks are really cool and people who disapprove of them," Antony told De Telegraaf prior to his move to United. "I think my actions are functional, because I want to show the opponent that I'm the boss. And often it results in a goal or an assist. So I don't really care what others think. Regardless of the praise or the criticism, I keep my focus."

There was a moment in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea that Antony was closed down by Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell on the touchline. He didn't appear to have any out ball at all, but, with a piece of sublime skill, he was able to roll the ball through Chilwell's legs - which allowed United to start a promising attack.

He did something similar against Tottenham during the Reds 2-0 win last week - that time, however, he left Ivan Perisic on the floor after dancing around him with the ball.

Antony has registered three goals for Manchester United this season. (Robin Jones/Getty Images)

While those two examples didn't amount to anything, it shows that Antony was right to back his desire to continue playing like he did with Ajax. Granted, they were tricks, but they had a positive impact on the next phase of play, and got the Reds out of a situation where, with other players, the ball would have been knocked out of play, or even lost.

The season he enjoyed in the Netherlands last term, where he scored ten goals and grabbed 12 assists in 33 appearances in all competitions, was important for Antony. While he improved as a player and started to add more goals to his game, he also became more confident in his ability - and backed himself to do exactly what he is good at.

Antony doesn't, by his own admission, care about what other people have to say. He has already come under criticism from a United legend during his short tenure at the club, but the 22-year-old has chose to respond on the pitch. The Brazilian is one of few United players who can comfortably beat two players, and that is something the club have needed in recent years.

His 'tricks' are always going to divide opinion, but if Antony can continue to produce the statistics to show that they are having a positive impact on the team, he is always going to be backed to be his flamboyant self.

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