Antony ignored Erik ten Hag's vital tactical instructions in the Manchester derby

Manchester United winger Antony reportedly 'ignored' defensive instructions from manager Erik ten Hag in Sunday's 6-3 defeat to Manchester City.

The Brazil international got on the scoresheet at the Etihad Stadium, but United struggled massively at the back.

Full-backs Diogo Dalot and Tyrell Malacia received bookings in a first half which saw the Red Devils ship four goals.

According to The Sun, ten Hag gave Antony strict orders to help Dalot when he came under pressure from Jack Grealish and Joao Cancelo, plus midfielder Bernardo Silva.

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It's a message the 22-year-old was given repeatedly in training prior to the game.

Dalot vented his frustrations to Antony throughout the first half after he seemingly forgot about the instructions.

On the opposite flank, it was Jadon Sancho who left Malacia exposed to Phil Foden. The England superstar scored twice in the first half, with Malacia replaced by Luke Shaw at halftime.

Former United midfielder Paul Scholes criticised both wingers for failing to help their teammates on Instagram.

Scholes posted a picture of Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, captioning it: "Anyone remember when wingers used to help their full-backs?"

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Foden and City striker Erling Haaland completed their hat-tricks in the second half to make it a first Manchester derby to forget for ten Hag.

Antony curled home a lovely effort in the second half before Antony Martial grabbed a brace to ensure it wasn't a repeat of THAT 6-1 scoreline at Old Trafford 11 years ago.

Ten Hag believes his players lacked belief throughout the contest.

The 52-year-old told BBC Sport post-match: "When you don't believe on the pitch, you can't win games.

"It's quite simple, it's a lack of belief. That is unacceptable. We get undisciplined at following rules and you get hammered, that's happened.

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"For me, it was a surprise. We were not on the front foot, we were not brave on the ball and there were spaces to play but we were not brave enough.

"In this moment I can't think about positives. We let our fans down, we let ourselves down and we're hugely disappointed."

The loss ends United's run of four consecutive wins in the Premier League. Next up is Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League on Thursday evening.

Topics: Manchester United, Antony, Erik Ten Hag, Manchester City

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

@DanMarland_