Wednesday, October 19, 2022 at 6:27 PM• Wessel Antes

Rio Ferdinand thinks Jadon Sancho and Antony should assert themselves a lot more at Manchester United, the Englishman says on his YouTube channel FIVE. Ferdinand thinks that on the flanks the Red Devils there is still a lot to be gained and says that there is work to be done for manager Erik ten Hag.

Ferdinand has noticed something about the winger at United. “It seems that our wingers always choose the back option. They never demolish their direct opponents.” Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka does, according to the Englishman. “Nobody is doing that better than him right now. He comes very often in the one against one and also often passes by. Not our wingers.”

Ferdinand thinks creating that kind of duel is crucial in matches. “The best teams, the winners, have their wingers face to face with defenders. Those are the moments when you can strike. It seems we don’t have enough creativity once we get into those situations.” On the flanks, Ten Hag usually has enough flavors at his disposal with Antony, Sancho, Anthony Elanga, Marcus Rashford and the currently injured Anthony Martial.

Ten Hag himself gave earlier opposite The Athletic already indicated that he expects more from his pupil Antony. “He needs challenges, that’s why he came to the Premier League. He finds those challenges here. He wants to be on the field with the best players, he wants to experience the greatest pressure against the best players. He also gets better for it. Antony has a good dribble, but needs to vary more in his game. We have to work on that and we have already done that in Amsterdam. He can also cross with his right leg. He is a young player that we have to develop, but he also has to do that himself.”