After Antony scored the equalizer for Man Utd against Everton in round 10 of the Premier League on October 9, former midfielder Paul Scholes commented on Antony: `He only has one song.`
Antony has scored three goals in three consecutive matches since the beginning of the season for Man Utd.
But actually, not everything Scholes said is true.
Antony is too fast compared to Mykolenko….
… and the curling shot is familiar.
This is Antony’s best performance since coming to Man Utd.
Ten Hag is no stranger to this song.
One of the six goals that Antony scored for Sao Paulo before going to Amsterdam to play was also very close to the goal against Everton.
Antony moved behind his companion Uendel
Defender Victor Cuesta stepped forward to approach Gomes, but the space left behind allowed Antony to rush in.
The young man easily approached goalkeeper Marcelo Lomba…
… and create goals.
If he takes advantage of the space like before Everton, Antony can score many more goals when Man Utd has many great passers like Casemiro, Fernandes or Eriksen.
Scholes is not alone when he says that Antony only has one lesson, and creates the feeling of being easily caught.
Statistics make this clearer.
Premier League history witnessed Danny Murphy – former Liverpool midfielder – have the highest one-foot goal ratio – 88% – only considering those who scored at least 50 goals.
At this time, Antony’s secret trick to score is to receive the ball on the edge of the penalty area, pull the ball quickly with his left foot and then curl it to the far corner.
It’s not necessarily bad when history has seen Arjen Robben only have one song that no one can stop.
But to reach Robben’s level of `knowing but not stopping`, Antony must go a long way.
Player
Number of tables
Ratio
Foot
Danny Murphy
50
88.0
Right
Steven Gerrard
120
86.0
Right
Cesc Fabregas
50
84.0
Right
Dennis Bergkamp
eighty seven
83.9
Right
David Beckham
62
83.9
Right
Juan Mata
52
82.7
Left
David Silva
60
81.7
Left
Mohamed Salah
122
81.1
Left
Theo Walcott
78
80.8
Right
Riyad Mahrez
78
80.8
Left
If you’ve never seen Antony score with his right foot, look up the Ajax match against Vitesse Arnhem in September 2020 – Antony’s third official match for Ajax.
Antony let the ball drift deeper…
… then shoot with his right foot to the far corner.
The picture below is another right foot goal of Antony when playing for Brazil U23 against Chile in 2019. After a 1-2 beat with his teammates, Antony immediately shot with his right foot towards the opponent’s goal.
If we also consider the assists, Antony’s `one bet` situation becomes even clearer.
Below is a left/right foot ratio chart for passing in the Premier League this season.
Red is the left foot, and blue is the right foot.
Ten Hag doesn’t seem to want Antony to only use his left foot or use one color.
According to Ten Hag, Antony can also cross well with his right foot, he just doesn’t have the habit of using it much or doesn’t know how to use it to surprise his opponents.