Antony is suffering from a lack of confidence as he tries to revive his career at Manchester United under Ruben Amorim, the new club's head coach has revealed.
Antony became a symbol of failure under Amorim's predecessor Erik ten Hag after following his former Ajax boss to Old Trafford in the summer of 2022 on an £82million contract.
Antony made his second start for Amorim in the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat to Tottenham on Thursday evening, and the United boss believes the Brazil winger lacks the confidence he had when Ajax beat his side Sporting Lisbon twice in the group stage of the Champions League in 2021. Antony scored in the 4-2 win over Ajax in Amsterdam and also played in a 5-1 romp in Lisbon.
“He needs more confidence,” Amorim said. “If you remember the Antony I played against him at Ajax, he lacks a bit of confidence to play one-on-one, but he will improve.
'He works very hard and he tries. He plays more inside than outside, especially in this game, and he just needs to do that: work very hard and I will help him become a better player.”
Despite suffering a third defeat in eight games against Spurs, Amorim saw an improvement in his team as they fell behind by three goals to put the match on the line.
“I think we are getting better near the opponent's penalty area,” he added. 'We had a number of games where we were close to the box, but without any real threat.
'You could see different things. You see we can shoot. We are close to the goal and you can really feel it. I think this is a good thing within our team.
'I feel like our team is faster and puts more pressure. Physicality improves. The understanding of the game, and you see that in the control of the game, and you see that especially in this game, but also in the last game we understand better the positioning and the movement that we have to do.'
After three away games, Amorim is looking forward to returning to Old Trafford, where United lost 3-2 to Nottingham Forest in their last home appearance earlier this month.
“It was very difficult to lose the game against Nottingham the way we did,” he added. “I always look forward to playing with our fans and trying to bring some happiness into their lives because (Spurs) was certainly very tough.”
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