Jeremy Doku has the final say in battle against Antony with ‘stay calm’ social media post
Antony #Antony
Jeremy Doku has rubbed salt into Manchester United’s already-open wounds with a ‘stay calm, Manchester is blue’ post featuring Antony.
In the closing stages of Sunday’s Manchester derby, frustrations boiled over when Antony took a swipe at Doku.
The Brazilian winger, who came on as a second-half substitute, looked far from happy on the subs bench, when Alejandro Garnacho was chosen to replace Rasmus Hojlund in the 73rd minute.
Erik ten Hag eventually decided to bring on Antony with four minutes of normal time remaining at Old Trafford, but the game was all but over.
Goals from Erling Haaland [2] and Phil Foden had sealed a straightforward win for Pep Guardiola’s side, so it was merely a training ground exercise in the final moments.
And in stoppage time, as the likes of Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden enjoyed a game of keep-ball, Antony kicked City winger Jeremy Doku before squaring up to the Belgian winger.
Antony received a yellow card for his petulant actions, while Jeremy Doku went on to complete two dribbles in three minutes after replacing Jack Grealish with 87 minutes played.
And he earned more plaudits on Sunday evening, when he posted a picture of his scuffle with Antony alongside the caption: “Stay calm. Manchester is blue.”
The post has received more than 140,000 likes at the time of writing.
Gary Neville, who was working as a co-commentator for Sky Sports, would blast Antony for his “absolutely embarrassing” antics in the derby.
“Antony just has a kick out at Doku,” he said. “Man Utd have lost their discipline and it starts with their captain. Ridiculous and embarrassing from Antony. I’d just send him off.”
He added: “Utd have gone missing in the second half. Half the crowd have left because they know what they are.”
Another Manchester United legend, Roy Keane, would also hit out at captain Bruno Fernandes. In fact, Keane said Erik ten Hag should strip Fernandes of the captaincy.
“I know it’s a big decision, obviously they changed the captaincy with Maguire, but Fernandes is not captain material,” Keane said after the game.
“He is a talented player no doubt about it. But what I saw today – we’ve discussed many times before, it was last season at Liverpool – his whinging, his moaning and throwing his arms up in the air constantly.”
Keane added: “It really isn’t acceptable. From what we saw today, I’m thinking I would take that off him.
“You have to start somewhere. We were talking about where do you start [fixing the problems] – the manager, board level. I would start with that because the manager is capable of doing that.
“Fernandes is a brilliant footballer but in terms of captain material he is the opposite to what I would want in a captain.”
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