Manchester United were always in a bit of a lose-lose situation heading into their clash with Newcastle last night. Fail to win, and the doubts over Erik ten Hag would only grow, while winning the match would be caveated by the fact it was against a second-string side in a second-string competition.

Winning a game in that manner would be a welcome problem for Ten Hag to have today. The nature of the match made it hard to take any positive performances too seriously, though the hypocrisy is that it only made poor performances look even worse too.

After a calamitous cameo at the weekend, Antony needed a big improvement more than most. Instead of turning a corner, he went around in a trademark circle once again.

PLAYER RATINGS: Dalot and Martial awful

MATCH REACTION: Players’ reactions sum up mess at United

His hopes of having a good game were boosted after just a minute when Newcastle left-back Matt Targett went off with an injury, leaving Anthony Gordon with a target on his back in a makeshift defensive role.

Yet this was another night in which the £86 million man struggled to make an impact, with the type of performance that has been indicative of his time at the club.

Antony rarely managed to get the better of the full-back in front of him and was guilty of poor decision-making in the final third, often overplaying the ball until he lost possession or impatiently hoofing it into the box without any care or consideration.

He struggled to link up with the dreadful Diogo Dalot in the first half, and United’s misery was summed up when the Brazilian overhit a pass straight out of play and responded with a heated exchange with his teammate. A high-five followed to calm the complaints, but the initial reaction told the true story of his frustration.

The 23-year-old was by no means the worst player on the pitch; after all, he survived the half-time changes unlike Dalot and Casemiro, though he is a particular problem given he is Ten Hag’s man and an expensive one at that.

Ten Hag stuck his neck on the line when he insisted on a move for the Ajax attacker a year ago, and he has yet to have been rewarded with even a handful of performances that would even begin to resemble a player of such a price.

It is, of course, a wider issue at the club that their new manager was able to spend such a hefty amount on a player of Antony’s quality, though the player and manager must take the bulk of it.

The overarching concern comes to his price tag again. Antony is the second-most expensive signing in the history of the club, and it is hard to ignore the knock-on effect that huge fee has had in subsequent windows as a result.

United resorted to last-ditch loan signings in the January transfer window because money was so limited, and even this past summer, they found themselves restricted financially as they looked to develop the squad further.

Even if they had paid half the price for Antony, they would have had the money to sign a midfielder or a defender permanently, or they could even have added another striker to their squad so they would not still be left resorting to Anthony Martial as their second-choice