Antony has a trademark move – but how one-footed is he?

Given the list of players who have graced Manchester United in the last three decades, it is somewhat startling that Antony became the first to score in each of his three opening games for the club in the Premier League.

Antony’s third goal, at Everton last Sunday, brought a slight revision from Paul Scholes, who had described the Brazilian as “a bit of a one-trick pony” after United stuttered to a 3-2 win at Omonia Nicosia.

“He doesn’t run in behind,” said Scholes on BT Sport’s UK coverage of his old team’s Europa League match in Cyprus three days earlier. “He’s always cutting inside and either passing back to the full-back or having a shot. You’re thinking he needs to develop a little bit. It’s still early days for him (after a summer move from Ajax), we know that.”

Replying to an Instagram user flagging his comments after the game at Goodison Park, Scholes wrote, “whoops”.

All three of Antony’s goals have been left-foot shots from the right side of the box into the far corner of the net. But the difference at Everton was that he did run in behind.

Bruno Fernandes starts the move by springing from behind referee David Coote to surprise Idrissa Gueye, whose touch is loose.

Diogo Dalot had just lost the ball in midfield, with Christian Eriksen slipping into the vacant right-back slot. Antony is almost out of picture at the bottom…

…but is more alert than his marker Vitalii Mykolenko as Fernandes passes forward to Anthony Martial.

Antony goes from a yard behind the Everton defender to two in front, so he has space to pick his finish when set up by Martial.

Sitting in the Goodison Park press suite post-match, Erik ten Hag said he wanted to see more of this from Antony.

“First weeks he scored goals, he did good stuff, but also I saw a lot of room for improvement in his game,” the new United manager said. “What I was happy with the goal he scored now was out of the moment of getting in behind. He has to do that more, he has to use his pace. He’s a good dribbler, but he needs more variation.”

Ten Hag might have been thinking back to a goal Antony scored for his Ajax side against fellow Dutch side Heerenveen two years ago this month. It, too, was sparked by a turnover of possession in midfield.

Antony spun round to beat his marker for speed as Mohammed Kudus got on the ball, and once the pass was made, he had room to glide into the box and curl a left-foot shot into the far corner.

One of his six goals for Sao Paulo back home before his move to Amsterdam mapped closely to that Everton equaliser too.

The example below came against Internacional in December 2019, when Antony was 19.

The move starts when Dani Alves, the former Barcelona player, intercepts the ball and feeds Igor Gomes.

Antony starts behind his marker, Uendel, but sprints in front as Gomes moves forward.

Defender Victor Cuesta jumps out to engage Gomes but succeeds only in creating space for Antony to run into.

Antony, now 10 yards ahead of Uendel, delays his finish until goalkeeper Marcelo Lomba commits, then slides a toe-poke beyond him.

If Antony can anticipate and accelerate in similar moments of transition for United, as Ten Hag has asked, it should yield a frequent source of chances, given the passing abilities of Casemiro, Fernandes and Eriksen.

Evidently, Antony has more than one trick. But Scholes is not alone in his original assessment, and the essence of it — that he relies heavily on a preferred mode of attack — does have credibility.

Scouting reports to United from Antony’s Sao Paulo days highlighted the dominance of his left foot. This was termed an “over-dependence” and is an issue generally for wingers because it makes them more predictable.

That caution continued to be expressed by members of United’s recruitment department during Antony’s two seasons with Ajax. It was felt that at Premier League level, once opposition defenders nailed down marking him, he might need to dig deep to produce when cutting in or get better at going on the outside.

Antony’s statistics make things pretty clear.

Of his 36 senior goals for club and country, 34 have been scored with his left foot. One came from his right and the other with his head.

That represents 94.5 per cent of goals with a preferred foot, which as a ratio stands out.

In Premier League history, according to Opta, Danny Murphy holds the highest percentage of goals with one foot from players to have scored at least 50 — at 88 per cent. Of those currently active, Mohamed Salah is top — 81.1 per cent of his 122 goals have come with his left.

By far Antony’s most regular method of scoring is when he receives possession on the edge of the box and shifts the ball quickly onto his left, bending a shot into the far corner. Thirteen of his goals match this description (36 per cent), albeit with varying angles and distances.

Manchester City are aware he can do this from even the most confined of circumstances.

Arjen Robben built a highly successful career off the same move. Defenders knew what the Dutchman would try but still struggled to stop him doing it.

Opta records show that across the Champions League, Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga, Robben scored 134 goals with his left, 10 with his right, eight with his head and two “others”. That represents an 87 per cent preference for his dominant foot.

Were Antony to produce that kind of output with his default goal, United would be satisfied at their €100million (£87m, $97.2m) investment, even though many in the industry regard the price as excessive.

Aged 22, the Brazilian has plenty of scope to develop his excellent technical skills. He has already impressed people who watched him at Sao Paulo by improving his football intelligence. It was felt he relied on instinct then, but his understanding of positioning and team shape has grown.

United being able to get the ball to Antony in space and in dangerous areas depends on the speed of passing and manner of support runs.

When he dribbled up a footballing cul-de-sac in the away game against Omonia, his hesitancy to get to the byline was apparent. But it was also a lesson for his team-mates, who failed to offer a route out.

His goal against AZ Alkmaar in January last year could prove instructive for his new colleagues in Manchester — not least because the move starts with Lisandro Martinez, who also joined United from Ajax this summer.

Martinez plays a good pass out to Daley Blind on the left wing, bypassing six opposition players.

At this point, Antony is staying high on the right so he has space to attack should the ball come his way.

Blind sees the overload on the far side and whips a pass into the centre, hitting it so hard he falls over.

Davy Klassen steps over the ball and Sebastien Haller takes a touch to control, then lays in Antony…

…who bends one of his classic finishes into the far corner.

The defending was passive but Ajax were able to create the chance by shifting the ball from one side of the pitch to the other quickly.

Several of Antony’s chances last season came when Haller, with back to goal, spun to set him up. They combined to score against PSV Eindhoven this way. Martial is probably the United centre-forward most suited to that.

So, what about this one senior goal Antony has scored with his right foot?

It came against Vitesse Arnhem in September 2020, in just his third official game for Ajax, once more with the ball carried upfield at speed and worked across the pitch.

The pass by Kudus invites Antony to shift it onto his left as usual, but also encourages a first-time hit with his right.

He shapes for what we now know is his customary cutback and uses the disguise to catch his marker off guard, instead hitting a right-foot shot firmly into the far corner, the ball bending away from goalkeeper Remko Pasveer’s dive.

Antony did also score a nice goal with his right for Brazil Under-23s against their Chilean counterparts in 2019.

Stationed at centre-forward as Pedrinho passes to Matheus Cunha, the now-Atletico Madrid forward, Antony offers for the one-two…

…but instead of passing back, he takes a touch with his left and curls a shot in with his right.

So far, Antony’s goal attempts for United have predominantly come from further out than that — averaging 24 yards in the Premier League. Only Said Benrahma averages a higher distance for forwards who have taken 10-plus shots (26.9 yards).

Even though Antony has scored three times this season, working himself into better positions should be more productive in the long term.

His debut goal against Arsenal was a zenith for Ten Hag’s United, as the team moved up the pitch with purpose then quickly transferred the ball across to overload the right, with Marcus Rashford supplying a delicate assist.

Another approach that brought Antony goals at Ajax was arriving centrally onto crosses from the left.

It worked against their two biggest rivals PSV and Feyenoord, both controlled first-time finishes, while his first goal for the Brazil senior team, against Venezuela, was a tap-in from two yards after he had read the play from the right wing. United have yet to see this kind of move.

It is not just goals that Ten Hag wants from Antony, of course. He had a decent record for assists in the Netherlands, too. But again, these were heavily dependent on his left foot. Only one of his 22 assists for Ajax was a right-footed cross.

It came against PEC Zwolle.

Antony uses full-back Sean Klaiber to mask his pass inside to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

The pair exchange a one-two, and an angle opens for Antony to shoot with his left…

…but he checks back onto his right and crosses to Quincy Promes, who does well to control the ball, which is slightly behind him, and finish.

The variation from Antony got Ajax a goal, but the difference in quality between his right and left is clear.

More often when crossing from the right, he cuts inside and bends an inswinging ball. Haller scored against Borussia Dortmund in this way, and it got Jurrien Timber this goal away to Willem II.

Ryan Gravenberch lofts a pass to Antony, whose control, using the studs on his left boot, is immaculate…

…and in a split-second, he sweeps over a deep cross for Timber to score.

Against Omonia at Old Trafford on Thursday, he supplied a similar cross to countryman Fred, who sent his header badly off target.

On the one occasion when Antony did try to cross with his right, in the second half, the connection was horribly scuffed and the ball drifted out for a goal kick.

Antony is among the most left-footed passers in the Premier League, as the next graphic shows, but the company he is keeping suggests it should not be an impediment to creativity.

Being able to keep defenders guessing is crucial, however, and Ten Hag does want him to work on his right.

“It’s preferred,” the United manager said. “He has to go both ways. You have to work on that point and we already worked on that in Amsterdam with him. He can also cross with his right foot.

“He is a young player we have to develop, but he has to develop himself.”

(Top photo: Getty Images)