Erik ten Hag explains why he waited until the 99th minute to bring on Antony in Man Utd defeat

Erik ten Hag explains why he waited until the 99th minute to bring on Antony in Man Utd defeat

Erik ten Hag has challenged Antony to ‘step up’ after leaving the £88million signing on the bench until the 99th minute of Saturday’s demoralising 1-2 home defeat against Fulham.

United had roared back into Champions League qualifying contention on the back of four straight wins, but were handed a sobering dose of reality by Alex Iwobi’s injury-time winner.

Despite the absence of Rasmus Hojlund due to injury, Ten Hag found no room for the most expensive recruit of his reign in his starting XI, instead handing a full Premier League debut to Omari Forson.

The teenager’s afternoon was brought to an end after 52 largely underwhelming minutes, but even then Ten Hag resisted the temptation to introduce Antony to the fray.