If you believe the legend, Steve Waugh jokingly remarked to Herschelle Gibbs after he dropped him at Headingley in 1999, "You've just dropped the World Cup."

The rumor persists even though Waugh never actually made the statement. It's possible that Bukayo Saka's spooned penalty at the London Stadium on Sunday cost his team the Premier League title.

Sport's ups and downs never fail to stun. Another left-footed right winger, this one in Nottingham 123 miles distant, slashed through the woodland to clear out woodland.

After being unfairly compared to Saka, a lock for the Premier League's squad of the season, Antony may have finally broken through to the next level with his performance at the City ground.

On the day Forest High School celebrated 50 years of its Tricky Tree crest, Antony learned and perfected his only trick. This reporter said that Antony imitated Arjen Robben during United's January League Cup victory at the City Ground.

On Sunday, Erik ten Hag endorsed that comparison. He's great on the inside. So, I've seen Arjen Robben, for example, quite a few times. They say he only knew one trick, but it was so ingenious that nobody can foil it.

"We need to stress the obvious: if you can travel in both directions, you have more options and are harder to catch. However, I think it would be hard to defend against him if he continued to dribble for the first few yards because he is so talented with the ball. That's why he has to keep doing it. Antony has taken a step forward, as seen by his scoring in the Premier League for the first time after 15 games and assisting on a goal for the first time. Ten Hag will appreciate the thoughtfulness behind those donations much more.

After Bruno Fernandes set up Anthony Martial, Antony sped past Renan Lodi and poked the ball past Keylor Navas after he had palmed Martial's shot.

When working with Martial and Marcus Rashford, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer preferred "scruffy" goals versus refined efforts. Marcos Acuna, a left-back for Sevilla, found out the hard way that Antony is a petty jerk who will fight anyone, ball or no ball.

Antony's invention of the game-winning goal by Diogo Dalot trumped Dalot's effort. Moussa Niakhaté slowed down, seeing that Wout Weghorst had kept onside, but he was caught off guard and impulsively went for Antony, who had gotten through Forest's defense using Weghorst as a decoy. That made room for Dalot to make a break for it.

The timing and speed of the pass were nearly flawless, showing that Antony's technical ability has more room to grow than his erratic first six months might have led one to believe. That uniformity needs further work.

Ten Hag brought out the incident in his postgame analysis, where Antony failed to cover a pulling-back Christian Eriksen in the first half. "Right off the bat, there were a couple of opportunities he had to pass to Christian Eriksen.

"It's so crucial in professional football that the pass be delivered at precisely the right time; it might mean the difference between scoring and not scoring.

He scored because he was at the right place at the right time to collect the loose ball. The second goal was a tremendous team effort, with excellent buildup play, a perfectly timed ball from Antony, and some fantastic movement from Diogo. It was encouraging to see.

Recommended: Diogo Dalot explains how Manchester United surmounted an injury crisis against Nottingham Forest.

Since the international matches in March, Antony's performance has been steadily improving. He was taken out of the game at Newcastle and was so angry about it that he covered his mouth while venting to Ten Hag. Antony "killed" Everton's auxiliary left-back Ben Godfrey, who was spared another 45 minutes of torment three days later when his astute ball for Marcel Sabitzer set up Rashford's winner against Brentford.

Antony's fourth controversial replacement in a row came against Sevilla, and it was a shot that hit the Stretford End post. A score was imminent.

Antony now faces the difficult task of maintaining a high-performance level when facing off against teams with more talent. With United leading 2-0 against Sevilla, he tried to pull off an "Anturny," but the ball rolled out from beneath his boot and into a throw. United must put an end to players like Antony, who is more efficient as a winger on the half-turn in the final third than freestyling with the ball near the halfway line, from the team's psyche.

Robben is an excellent standard to uphold. In January 2004, Sir Alex Ferguson gave him a tour of United's Carrington training complex, and he became so enraged by the presence of photographers that he exited his car to turn on the hairdryer.

In February, when Robben scored the game-winning goal for the Netherlands against the United States, Ferguson was on his feet in the Amsterdam Arena to celebrate. A month later, Chelsea made public their decision to pay Robben £12 million.

Robben's effort in the 2013 Champions League final at Wembley earned him the Man of the Match award, which Ferguson proudly awarded to him. Ferguson said, somewhat seriously, "It's my first job since I retired."

United blew it with Robben, but they may have found a clone in Antony, another Dutch-born winger who has blossomed in the Premier League.