Marco van Basten is still not running away with Antony. The analyst acknowledges Sunday evening at Rondo that the Brazilian has his good moments, but thinks that he still makes the wrong choices too often. According to Van Basten, Antony could more often find a simpler solution against lesser opponents. Jan van Halst nuances the criticism somewhat and attributes the decisions of the creative of Ajax mainly to ‘the risk that is simply part of his game’.
Van Basten starts with the statement that Ajax is no better than three years ago and has no players like the generation of then, consisting of, among others, Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, Donny van de Beek and Hakim Ziyech. Van Halst then quotes Antony: “If you compare it with three years ago, Antony can create something from scratch. He is so terribly fast. He can suddenly sprint away from standing. And how he sometimes plays with the outside left is so annoying…”
His fellow analyst thinks that praise should be tempered a bit, despite the fact that all Ajax goals against Borussia Dortmund (1-3) on Wednesday came from a cross by the winger. “I think he has a lot of good moments, but also so many bad moments,” says Van Basten. “I don’t think that’s part of a good football player.” Van Halst relates this to the risk that ‘such players simply put into their game’. Ajax should be built even more around the Brazilian international. His table companion disagrees. “No, it’s not just risk. Also bad decisions. Then I think: where are you going?”
Ajax lost expensive points in the hunt for the championship on Sunday evening with a 0-0 draw against Go Ahead Eagles in its own Johan Cruijff ArenA. Contrary to the won game against Borussia Dortmund, Antony played an unfortunate match, which according to Van Basten shows the difference with a top player. “A good football player always has an idea”, argues Van Basten. “A good football player plays easily against a lesser opponent. He can lose so much ball against a bad opponent.”
Van Basten has often been critical of Antony’s development in the past. In the broadcast of Sunday, October 3, he stated that ‘how good he is is being exaggerated’. A player with his qualities should yield more returns, Van Basten said at the time. “You very often see that he does not pass his man or that there is a misunderstanding with teammates. He has to give a cross or fire a shot on goal. If you see how often that fails… Against Besiktas he started a dribble, but then I think: where do you want to end up?”