Antony is a YouTube player just like Ronaldo was before Fergie's hairdryer made him a star

Brazilian forward Antony is getting pelters after a series of poor performances which have highlighted a big problem with his playing style - which is the big problem, that it's all style and no substance.

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The 22-year-old ace has struggled to live up to his reputation and £86million price tag since being brought to Old Trafford from Ajax by his former manager in Amsterdam, Ten Hag.

And he has been branded a 'YouTube player' and 'circus performer' after his latest poor display in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, where fans were left fuming with his pointless trickery.

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Antony's trademark spinning move is what many United supporters were excited to see after signing the talented youngster, but now they're sick at the sight of it, while rival fans are now using it as fuel to mock the Red Devils star who only has five goals and one assist since joining in the summer.

His lack of output is the main frustration surrounding Antony, who will often get into a superb position to whip in a cross but, instead of looking for a teammate, he'd often perform a silky cut-back or show some Brazilian flair, and either lose the ball doing so or miss the window of opportunity to send the ball into the box.

It led to former Aston Villa captain Gabby Agbonlahor calling the winger a phoney who has 'bluffed' his way to Manchester United, while former Red Devils striker Alan Brazil questioned how long Ferguson would have stood for his showboating antics - especially when they have no end product.

"He needs to do a lot better," said Agbonlahor. "He needs to stop with the silly tricks like he's in the circus, and start getting past players, putting in crosses, getting more goals and assists.

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"If he does that, we could be talking this time next season and Antony is a much better player."

"Gabby, I'm with you," replied talkSPORT Breakfast host Brazil. "Where's the end product?

"There's no doubt he's electric, he's got quick feet, but what about the end product?

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"All I'll say is this: how long would Fergie have put up with that?"

History suggests the legendary Scottish coach probably wouldn't have put up with it for long - and you only have to look back at Cristiano Ronaldo's early Old Trafford career as evidence.

A young Ronaldo was still very much a raw talent when he rocked up at United, and it took some time for Ferguson to polish him up and turn him into the shining five-time Ballon d'Or-winning diamond he would go on to become.

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Several months of Fergie's famous hairdryer treatment apparently did the trick, according to legend and CR7's former teammate Patrice Evra.

"Sir Alex Ferguson had a massive impact on Ronaldo's career," Evra told Betfair in October 2022.

"When he started he was like a YouTube player, lots of skill, that's what I felt when I arrived at United.

"I remember one time early on Ferguson destroyed him. I think we played Chelsea and he didn't have a good performance.

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"Ferguson told him, 'It's easy to score a hat-trick against Bolton or Blackburn but what about the big games?' It was a tough hairdryer moment. Suddenly after that, I remember Cristiano started to score in the big games, then he became another player.

"Ferguson went further and told him that he's not a winger, that he's a striker and with his ability he had to score two or three goals a game and he didn't care about the tricks and skill, he said, 'Forget that, you need to score goals'. That season Ronaldo scored 42 goals.

"He was a goal machine, he didn't care about impressing people with skill and tricks, he was just focused on scoring goals. A lot of it is down to Sir Alex Ferguson, he had a massive impact."

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Taking notes, Ten Hag?