Keane gives fresh verdict on Man Utd winger Antony after being ‘critical’ in the past

Former midfielder Roy Keane has praised Man Utd winger Antony for “doing the basics” after previously being “critical” of the Brazilian.

The 23-year-old produced a man-of-the-match performance on Sunday as the Red Devils to boost their Champions League qualification hopes.

Antony opened the scoring by following in Anthony Martial’s shot for a tap-in before brilliantly assisting Diogo Dalot for the Red Devils’ second goal of the game.

The Brazil international’s fourth goal in the Premier League and first assist of the season helped third-placed Man Utd pull six points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham in the race to qualify for the Champions League.

Man Utd legend Keane has been “critical” of Antony in the past with many supporters and pundits frustrated by his lack of assists and lack of desire to track back.

“It’s vital to get those types of goals,” Keane told Sky Sports. “We’ve been critical and he’s got to get in there a little but more and have that hunger and desire.

“As skilful as he is, these are important moments. To get on the end of it and get a tap in, it’s a big moment for him.

“We saw the brilliance of him for the second goal, but doing the basics like following shots, players have got to do that because these are big moments.”

Fellow pundit Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink thinks Antony needs to get towards 30 goals for the season if Man Utd are going to challenge for the title in the future.

“He needs to score more goals,” Hasselbaink said. “Today, it was important he was getting [the goal] at 1-0, not 4-0. He also needs to create more goals as well.

“When Liverpool won the league, Salah scored 30 goals. That is where he needs to get to.”

Speaking about Antony and his side’s performance, Man Utd boss Ten Hag said: “We need more goal scorers and I’m happy with Antony. He scored a goal, gave an assist.

“His start in the game wasn’t that good. I think twice he had to make another choice to bring the ball to Christian Eriksen in a cutback.

“He’s definitely making progress. Against Everton he created many chances and misses and so I’m happy for him today he scored.

“He had another one, if Aaron Wan-Bissaka was not blocking the shot!”