Two players that are incredibly frustrating for Manchester United are Antony and Jadon Sancho. They’re frustrating to watch because they’re not living up to the standard we, as neutral fans, know they can play at.
Take Antony for example. His ability to cut inside and take on defenders is a cut above the rest. However, he doesn’t do that. He seems too scared to do that, even. Instead, he’ll stand with the ball at his feet, perhaps spin with it or something like that, before being easily tackled. He’s a one trick pony and that doesn’t work in this league.
Sancho is more frustrating because he doesn’t play through injury most of the time. However, when he does, he’s like Antony in the sense that he doesn’t take risks.
This is exactly the argument Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand put forward, on the
.
Here, Rio Ferdinand criticised the two Manchester United wide-men for not taking enough risks. We know that in his game, you need to take risks, especially when you play on the front-line and are searching for an opening.
Rio used new Arsenal attacker Leandro Trossard as an example of someone who uses risk to his advantage. The Belgian forward put in a phenomenal display against Fulham in their recent match, providing a hat-trick of assists in the first half.
Rio also pointed out that if Saka and Martinelli are injured or have an off-day, the Gunners can now rely on Trossard. Having this level of competition in the front-line is something United can’t relate to, which might explain why they’re struggling for goals and form as of late.
Even if Sancho and Antony can’t learn from Trossard, they should learn from a player much closer to them – Marcus Rashford. Rashford thrives off taking risks, it’s a large part of his play and the reason he’s in great form recently.
Do you agree with Rio Ferdinand’s assessment of Antony and Jadon Sancho?