Antony has insisted he is focused on winning games for Manchester United (Image: Sky Sports)
Although Antony has had difficulty making an impression on Manchester United’s squad this season, the Brazilian is now hoping to improve on his Carabao Cup performance against Barnsley.
In order to maintain his position in Manchester United’s starting lineup, Antony has stated he will “work hard” going forward.
The Brazilian has had a challenging season; before to Tuesday, he had only made one appearance, a late one in the loss to Brighton. In the hierarchy, he has lost ground to players like Alejandro Garnacho and Amad.
But on Tuesday night, when United met Barnsley in the Carabao Cup, he finally had his time to shine. The third-round matchup between the League One team and Antony lasted the full ninety minutes.
He took advantage of the opportunity to make an impression and scored from the penalty kick in the 7-0 victory. Marcus Rashford gave Antony the opportunity to convert the penalty kick as Casemiro urged the Englishman to give it away.
In the midst of his own form problems, Rashford would have scored a hat-trick had he taken and converted the penalty. And now that his campaign has really gotten going, Antony wants to give his teammates back everything.
He wrote on Instagram, “What a fantastic day.” God be praised for it! We won the game, I got to play, and I scored a goal! With this shirt, I’ll keep putting in the effort to win more and more.”
Senior players Casemiro and Rashford combined to give Antony a much-needed boost, which pleased manager Erik ten Hag. After a challenging start to the season, the United manager hopes to see more of that mindset.
“They also provide each other with assists and goal-scoring opportunities. Similar to the penalty, Rashy offers Antony the pen when he needs some confidence, which is beneficial for the team. Whichever they are, they are in unison,” he declared.
“I believe those players will score goals when we have the correct aggressive mentality, but first and foremost, it’s crucial that we defend well as a team. They are incredibly hard to defend when we get them in the right spots.
“They possess incredible speed, energy, electricity, and directness. First and foremost, they will score goals when there is strong team togetherness. that we can locate the areas where we can play when we have the appropriate shape.
When we play that manner, we can push together as a team and become extremely compact. I believe it makes us difficult to beat and that is how we should play.
It will take until Wednesday of next week for United to find out who their opponents are in the fourth round. Meanwhile, Antony will be trying to avoid losing his spot for the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
