Antony could not escape the malaise at Ajax on Saturday evening, Kenneth Perez notes. The attacker has been in great form in recent weeks, but did not impress against Heracles Almelo (0-0). According to the analyst of ESPN the contrast between Antony’s performance against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday and his match on Saturday is immense.
On the broadcast of This was the Weekend Perez says on Sunday evening that Antony has “exceled the most” in the past games. “You saw him against Dortmund and you thought: what a player. Everything went well, everything worked out. But all the things he did well against Dortmund, he just didn’t do well yesterday,” says the analyst. “His speed of action was not good, the assumptions were just wrong, so he couldn’t finish well. The shots, the chops … They all worked against Dortmund, but now nothing worked at all.”
“I also think that Antony thinks everything will work out, now that he has played well,” adds the former midfielder. “Against PSV (5-0 victory last Sunday, ed.) I already thought it was a bit of ‘circus Antony’. He is now back on earth for a while. The Ajax trainer also changed him and was not guided by his good form.” Erik ten Hag pulled Neres to the side twenty minutes before time and brought David Neres inside the lines. Opposite ESPN Ten Hag already showed his dissatisfaction with Antony’s performance.
“What did I think of Antony? Well, his choices weren’t too good,” said the coach. “He has to score from the right. And how he does that… Look, the choices of when to finish, when to pass to put someone in a better position… He didn’t always have those kinds of things today. I think he had a lot of threat today and he was hard to stop. But he has to make the difference. That’s the form of the day.”