Alejandro Garnacho is fulfilling Erik ten Hag’s demand of Antony at Manchester United

Erik ten Hag’s glad-handed embrace of Alejandro Garnacho after full-time showed what he made of his comeback cameo in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Wolves.

‘Viva Garnacho’ rang around Old Trafford as he came on with eight minutes to go for his first appearance in two months following his ankle injury against Southampton. He repaid their adoration with a stoppage-time goal that further secures their top four status after a tricky period.

There had been questions over whether the attack could still produce the goods after 29-goal top scorer Marcus Rashford was ruled out with injury. In the previous four games he had missed, a centre-forward has failed to score in each one.

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Anthony Martial put a stop to that trend when he converted into an open goal thanks to Antony’s unselfishness on 32 minutes. That did gloss over a frustrating first half, though.

The tempo was staggered and the accuracy, rueful. Antony’s headed miss from close range may have been highlighted more had he not assisted two minutes later.

It was symptomatic of United’s attack this season when Rashford has either been unavailable or off the pace. It’s something Ten Hag has addressed, and last month he challenged Antony himself to do more.

"Of course, we expect from frontline players that they are not only a threat but also they have effect in the final thing and he [Antony] has to work on that, of course," he said. The Brazilian still has time yet to prove his £85m valuation.

But many have been left wanting from his overall output this season. The 23-year-old made a great start to life, becoming the first United player to score in each of his first three Premier League matches.

It took