At the beginning of the month, one prominent Manchester United fan account appeared to take a not-so-subtle dig at the club's biggest summer signing, Antony.

In a post that presented Alejandro Garnacho scoring against West Ham United in the FA Cup, it read: "Gentle reminder that our star boy didn't cost £100m."

The meaning is unclear but when you consider the aforementioned Brazilian cost £86m, the pieces begin to fall into place.

In truth, Garnacho has had a bigger impact at Old Trafford this term. The teenager who despite being Argentinian, idolises Cristiano Ronaldo, has scored four times and registered five assists across all senior competitions.

Antony, by comparison, has six goals and just one assist as a marker of his lack of end product.

In the goals department, he is currently beating his younger colleague, but he has also played around 800 more minutes throughout 2022/23.

There have been flickers and indications of his brilliance but against Liverpool, a bold call may well have to be made.

Will Antony play against Liverpool?

To put it simply, the £200k-per-week earner must be dropped for such a seismic clash this afternoon.

The fact of the matter is that Erik ten Hag now has better options at his disposal. Wout Weghorst has shown he is no mug in attack with his relentless work rate only something Antony can dream of.

Marcus Rashford is simply undroppable while Bruno Fernandes has also occupied a role on Antony's favoured right-hand side of late. That's not forgetting the impact Jadon Sancho has had as a number 10 either.

Throw Garnacho into the mix, a man who oozed confidence against the Irons a few days ago, and it's hard to see how Antony gets in.

The Brazilian did indeed score in the Europa League win over Barcelona but that is his only goal in the last ten outings.

The 23-year-old has only played the full 90 minutes once since the World Cup too, with that a glaring indication that Ten Hag does not trust him to provide quality over long spells.

Liverpool have been rather hopeless defensively at times this term - notably conceding five to Real Madrid at Anfield - and as such a swashbuckling offensive strategy from United must be chosen.

Antony dazzles with his trickery but his inability to then carve out a chance or fashion a shot is what holds him back.

Instead, he finds himself going back for more. That was seen at Wembley last weekend where despite beating Dan Burn all ends up at one stage, then decided to try and do it all over again before being sent to the deck by Joelinton.

There is, of course, the famous spin that he does, a trick that debuted in United colours during Sheriff Tiraspol earlier this season.

For that rather comedic moment, Ian Darke on BT Sport suggested he was playing as though he was on the television show "Strictly Come Dancing."

Always the showboater and very rarely the man for the big occasion, other options have to be favoured this weekend.

United are still the favourites but without Antony, the odds will surely only rise in their favour.