Erik ten Hag's blunt reason for bringing on Antony in 99th minute of Manchester United's Fulham loss

Erik ten Hag has sent a clear message to Antony after he explained why he brought the winger on for just 40 seconds in Manchester's United's loss to Fulham.

United were on the end of a 2-1 loss to the Cottagers at Old Trafford in the Premier League yesterday.

Calvin Bassey put Fulham ahead in the second half, before Harry Maguire looked to have ensured a share of the spoils with an equaliser before full-time.

But the Cottagers won it deep into injury time as Alex Iwobi swept home to stun the hosts who had been pressing for a winner themselves.

After continuing to fail to live up to his £82m transfer fee that United paid Ajax in 2022 when Ten Hag arrived at Old Trafford, Antony has recently been relegated to the bench as Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford have been given preference on the flanks.

Following Iwobi putting the Cottagers back in front in the 97th minute, Ten Hag called upon the Brazilian in the 99th minute as the attacker replaced Victor Lindelof.

But the winger ended up playing just 40 seconds in the game as the full-time whistle was blown not long after that.

And speaking after the game, Ten Hag gave some blunt reasons as to why he made such a late change to give Antony some fleeting game time.

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The Dutchman said: "It was nothing to do with fitness. He is fit but we have many options on the right side where we lack in other positions due to injuries.

"The form in Antony we all have seen and he has to step up. I see it in training but also other Omari (Forson) and Amad Diallo and Garnacho deserve to play.

"We struggled with their influence and their impact on our left side.

"But we reacted well and how to deal with it, how to step up from the back and once we had that we got more from the game and took control to create the chances.

“With the squad we had today we should have won this game. Both halves were slow starts and we should be ready from the first whistle.

“That’s a point of criticism but the team showed big character in both halves.”

It remains to be seen what Antony's long-term future at United will be, and if the Red Devils will seek to cut their losses this summer and sell the winger in a bid to recoup funds in the transfer market.