Ten Hag: Antony is Man Utd’s ‘missing link’

Erik ten Hag hailed Antony as Manchester United’s “missing link” after the forward marked his debut with a goal in Sunday’s 3-1 win over Arsenal.

Antony only arrived from Ajax in an £86million (€100m) deal on Thursday but slotted straight into United’s starting line-up in place of Anthony Elanga at Old Trafford.

Having already shown glimpses of promise early on, Antony required 35 minutes to score his first goal for the club after being played in by Marcus Rashford.

The 22-year-old became the ninth Brazilian to represent United in the Premier League.

And the first to mark his maiden appearance in the competition with a goal.

While pleased with an encouraging first display from Antony.

Ten Hag insisted there will be more once the attacker fully settles into his new surroundings.

Ten Hag, who coached the Brazilian at Ajax, told Sky Sports:

“I think we’ve all seen what a threat Antony is. His speed and creativity can be a real threat in the Premier League.

“We missed a player on the right wing because all the players who can play there, like Jadon Sancho, like Marcus Rashford, prefer the centre or the left side.

“Now we have the one who can play well on the right wing.

“That was a missing link. Today, his first performance here, he did well, but I think he can step up.

“I know him from Amsterdam, and I know this is a different league, but there is potential and he will be even more of a threat to opponents than he was today.”

Rashford set up Antony’s strike and scored two goals after Bukayo Saka had temporarily levelled things up for Arsenal.

It is the first time since October 2020, against Newcastle United, that Rashford scored and assisted in a single Premier League match.

United have now won four top-flight matches in a row for the first time since April 2021.

And Ten Hag was encouraged by the spirit shown by his side in their latest victory.

Ten Hag told BBC Sport:

“We are happy and satisfied with the win, and also with the performance against a really good team – they played well.

“The spirit from this team, they can deal with setbacks, so we did.

“It is great and shows your mentality – we have improved on that.

“We have the correct characters, and now it is about cooperation, dealing with setbacks but also improving – we have to stay calm, stay composed and play our game.

“You can see that Arsenal are more together, have more routines, but our team spirit brought us the win. We can still do things better, especially with pressing.

“We can be more composed on the ball and not give it away.

“When we got beat in the press, we fought back and recovered. Especially in transitions, we were good.”

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