Arsenal legend Ian Wright believes Alejandro Garnacho must start for Manchester United and ‘cannot believe’ Antony is still getting picked ahead of the young winger.
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The Red Devils were beaten 3-1 at the Emirates on Sunday but briefly thought they had snatched victory in the 89th minute when Garnacho – who had been subbed on just five minutes earlier – was played in and confidently struck the ball past Aaron Ramsdale.
Unfortunately for United, the Argentine was fractionally offside and the goal was chalked off by VAR, with Arsenal going on to net twice in stoppage time to claim all three points.
Even in his short time on the pitch, former Arsenal frontman Wright felt Garnacho looked like a real livewire for United and a better fit for their counter-attacking setup while Antony – despite being diligent off the ball – posed little threat.
Explaining why he feels Erik ten Hag needs to start picking the 19-year-old over Antony, Wright told Premier League Productions: ‘I think Garnacho is a positive [from the defeat].
‘I think they’ve got to find some way of getting a midfielder in their team who can get on the ball, control it and then use the pace of Rashford and use the pace of Garnacho.
‘Because they’re playing on the counter-attack. I’m listening to Bruno Fernandes saying he was happy with the way it went, he thought they played well and dug in.
‘Man United have got the kind of players [to attack more]. We saw it with Garnacho, who I cannot believe does not start in front of someone like Antony.
‘He [Garnacho] can come on in that game and, even if you’re playing in that style of football, he’s surely going to be better than what Antony is giving you at this particularly moment.
‘We saw it in that little cameo there what he did.
‘For me, Man United are only missing a person to get the ball in midfield and control it and pass it so they can build up their movement off the ball.’
He added: ‘That looked to me that the goalkeeper was just going long, over to Rashford, and they were bypassing the midfield.
‘It was only when the game got a little bit stretched and Arsenal got a little bit anxious that they started to pass the ball around. That was when I was starting to feel a little bit more nervous about the fact they were going to pick through us in a minute. But it didn’t happen.
‘It happened on the counter-attack again for Garnacho because Gabriel Jesus lost the ball and then they were in, so if they’re going to play like that then you have to play with someone like Garnacho because of his pace.’
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