In the early hours of this morning, one man turned restlessly in his hotel bed. Sweating profusely in the purgatory between sleep and consciousness, his nasal, Wrexham tones cried out. “He can’t be doing that for me, Ian!”. His protests got louder, the now-crying man startling himself awake in his distress. “This is Man United, Ian!” he implores, “It’s 0-0 and he’s doing that?!”. The man is on his knees now as if trying to find a dropped contact lens, perhaps looking for a discarded fragment of sanity. “Antony…” the man whispers, defeated. At this point, the phone rings. Trembling, he picks it up. “Front desk. This is a wake up call for Mr Savage”.
Manchester United defeated Sheriff Tiraspol 3-0 in the Europa League on Thursday night at Old Trafford. But that’s not the real story. Even Cristiano Ronaldo, scorer of United’s third, could not take the headlines on this night. That honour went to Antony, the Red Devils’ summer buy from Ajax. But, despite his team’s victory, the attention the Brazilian received wasn’t positive.
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Antony did his trademark 360 spin move out wide on the right before sliding a pass in behind the defence. His crime was the fact the ball went out of play, rather than to his intended target, Casemiro. Robbie Savage, on commentary for BT Sport, was the first to burst a blood vessel over it. How it was a crime to attempt the move at 0-0. How it was disrespectful to Sheriff. How it was disrespectful to his teammates. Minute upon minute of utter bile foamed from the mouth of the pundit. So much that you’d think Antony had turned up to his house on Christmas Day and volleyed his turkey into the bin.
Savage’s tears were not the only ones shed by British pundits. Paul Scholes insinuated he would have kicked him. Ooh, you’re hard. Leroy Rosenior, a player whose glittering career at Bristol City and QPR makes him uniquely placed to evaluate European football, called it “pointless”. The British media had seen what Antony had to offer and, suffice to say, they were not happy about it.
Antony’s mistake was a bit embarrassing. But the fact he tried it was not the affront to the sanctity of football that these fragile ex-players are making out. Savage decried the moment as unnecessary because there were no defenders near Antony when he did the turn. But if you view the full clip from the hard camera, not the zoomed in version BT replayed endlessly while the ex-Blackburn Rovers midfielder seethed, you will see he actually wrong-foots his nearest opponent, opening the avenue through which he threaded the pass to Casemiro.
Casemiro did not make it to the ball, and could have probably done with a more cushioned delivery from his Brazil teammate. But if it were one of United’s pacey attackers, rather than their defensive midfielder, in behind the Sheriff defence then things could have gone differently. The pass was the right one to make, executed wrongly. The reason it was the right one to make was because Antony had expertly created the space in the Sheriff defence through which to execute it. Far from being “pointless” as Rosenior put it, the move cut a whole in a deep defensive line United had struggled to break through at that point.
Antony does his trademark spin in acres of space and then puts his pass out of play... 🙃
#UEL
Now that we have established that the spin was more functional than any pundit is willing to admit, let’s look at the rage itself. Savage in particular is one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s biggest media cheerleaders. He reflects the national mood amongst grumpy ex-players that Erik ten Hag benching the out-of-form 37-year-old is ridiculous because they cling to some outdated view that Ronaldo is the best player in the world. But the Portugal international absolutely loves a step-over and you could construct an entire feature-length film from the amount of precociously entertaining skill moves he has used in his life. Why is it okay for Ronaldo to thrill us while Antony has been made a pariah?
The same logic applies if you go further back. “Proper football men” will purr over old clips of Diego Maradona and George Best cutting defenders to ribbons. There is a reason Paul Gascoigne is still prized as one of this country’s greatest ever players, that being his dazzling array of skills. These players are lauded for the way they bent football to their will, but even their tricks didn’t come off 100% of the time. If we love those players for attempting the impossible, we shouldn’t be bemoaning Antony doing the same.
There is a wider discussion to be had over the changing face of sports media in this country. Where news is usually disseminated through the high-decibel, low-nuance overload of Simon Jordan and Graeme Sounness. Where Roy Keane, a thoughtful, intelligent midfielder in his day, has been reduced to “old man yells at cloud” caricature. Social media means that Scholes pulling up the footage and describing the pros and cons of Antony’s spin from a tactical point of view will do less clicks than threatening him with violence. There was good and bad in Antony’s moment du jour, but bad news sells.
It is to be hoped the player, and others like him, aren’t discouraged by this storm in a teacup. Like the aforementioned Maradona and Best, football thrives on the shoulders of its entertainers. After all, we don’t watch football to be bored. Here’s hoping Antony and his ilk continue to give Savage, Scholes and the rest sleepless nights.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
