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Antony is suffering from a shortage of confidence as he tries to revive his Manchester United career 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 he followed his former Ajax boss to Old Trafford in a £82million deal in the summer of 2022.
Antony made his second start for Amorim in the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat at Tottenham on Thursday night, and the United boss believes the Brazil winger lacks the confidence he had when Ajax beat his Sporting Lisbon side twice in the Champions League group stage in 2021. Antony scored in Ajax’s 4-2 win in Amsterdam and also played in a 5-1 romp in Lisbon.
‘He needs more confidence,’ said Amorim. ‘If you remember the Antony I played against him in Ajax, he lacks a bit of confidence to go one against one but he will improve.
‘He’s working really hard and he’s trying. He’s playing more inside than outside, especially in this game, and he just has to do that: work really hard and I will help him to be a better player.’
Despite suffering a third defeat in eight games at the hands of Spurs, Amorim saw an improvement in his team as they came from three goals down to take the game to the wire.
Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim (right) says Antony (left) is lacking in confidence
‘I think we are improving near the opponent’s box,’ he added. ‘We had some games that we are near the box but without real threat. You could see different things. You can see we can shoot. We are near the goal and you really feel it. I think it is a good thing in our team.
‘I feel that our team is faster and pressing more. The physicality is improving. The understanding of the game, and you can see it by the controlling of the game, and you see it especially in this game but also in the last game we understand more the positioning and the movement we should do.’
After three away games, Amorim is looking forward to getting back to Old Trafford where United lost 3-2 to Nottingham Forest on their last home appearance earlier this month.
‘It was really hard to lose the Nottingham game in the way we did,’ he added. ‘I’m always looking forward to playing with our fans and to try to put some happiness in their lives because (Spurs) was really tough for sure.’
