Antony says ‘critics make me want to work harder’ amid Man Utd struggles

Antony says the critics are only fuelling his desire to prove his worth at Manchester United as under-fire Erik ten Hag and his stuttering side look to end a tough season on a high.

This has been a poor campaign for all connected to the Old Trafford outfit, who exited Europe before Christmas and are almost certainly going to miss out on Champions League qualification.

United face a fight for sixth spot and stumbled to a 1-1 home draw against relegation-battling Burnley on Saturday, when Clarets substitute Zeki Amdouni’s spot-kick cancelled out Antony’s late effort.

It was a first Premier League goal in a poor campaign for the £84.8million winger, who is among a number of players to have underperformed in a season to forget for the Red Devils, but could yet yield silverware with the FA Cup final against Manchester City to come.

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“It’s been a very tough year for me and the team,” Antony, 24, said. “The results are not ones we have expected.

“I am someone who takes criticism very well and I want to work on it, and I think we all have to focus on finishing the season the best as we can.

“We still have a few Premier League games and the (FA Cup) final, but then we need to focus on the next season and not commit the mistakes we’ve committed this year.”

An eye-watering injury list offers some mitigation for United, where the future of key personnel – from Ten Hag to his players – is under the spotlight as Ineos look to turn things around.

They took control of football operations as part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority takeover deal and immediately highlighted player trading as an issue requiring improvement.

The deal that brought Antony from Ajax in 2022 will have surely raised