✍️ Welcome Michail Antonio

[iLoveLasagne]

We need another striker not just to rotate for fitness reasons but for form as well. I felt he did OK at times but he seems to drift out wide more regularly in recent times.

[Knighter10WHU]

clearly not at his best but still good . maybe needs to be benched on weds and saved for chelsea.

we have no other striker like him so will have to adapt until moyes can get one in on the 1st January !

Iron mic`s 3 legs are in need of a rest !!!!!


I look forward to a recharged beast destroying chelsea on saturday !

What like we rested him midweek against Vienna to save him for City on Sunday? Just accept he's been rubbish for a while now and we desperately need a backup/someone to push him more than any other position on the pitch and have done since we sold Haller.

[brooking_1980]

All strikers have these runs and that trip to Jamaica and back must have exhausted him.....

He'll be back, in the goals, bouncing everyone off him, big grin & in the goals real soon. Maybe when we least expect it.

[S-H]

Just accept he's been rubbish for a while now

I don't think he has.

[Crouchend_Hammer]

Strange narrative that is being pushed that he has been rubbish for a while
He may not have been as effective as first couple of months, but he has been far from rubbish. He was the best player in the Premier League for the first six weeks or so so it was always going to be hard to keep that form up. Opposition managers have now wised up to how good he is and are focusing on negating his impact as much as they can

Cut the geezer some slack. He hasn't lost focus, or thinks he is the billy b*llocks all of the sudden. He just isn't playing quite as well as August and September. But then that can be said about a few players in our team. It happens. Very few players play at the top of their form all the time - and those that do are worth £100m

[One Peter Butler]

He brings so much more than goals. His runs free up others. His link up play is perfect for our style. His enthusiasm is like having a 12th man on the pitch.

We need his goals back - but, rubbish for a while? Come on!

[Lars Jacobsen]

It's not panic, knee-jerking or knicker-wetting to say that this is the exact reason that 99% of us were crying out for backup to Antonio in the Summer.

That's not to say that he's finished, past it, lazy or any of those things. Strikers are allowed a drop-off in form. Our issue is not having one on the bench to replace him when he's struggling.

[Macca1973]

It's not panic, knee-jerking or knicker-wetting to say that this is the exact reason that 99% of us were crying out for backup to Antonio in the Summer.

That's not to say that he's finished, past it, lazy or any of those things. Strikers are allowed a drop-off in form. Our issue is not having one on the bench to replace him when he's struggling.

This was the point I was making in the summer, most people were focused on Antonio's fitness and having a replacement for when his hamstrings go but not many were talking about having an alternative to when his form drops off which was just as likely.

[HammerAl]

When I think of “rubbish” players or players who have gone through rubbish form, nothing comes off, their heads drop and they don’t add anything to the team.

Antonio may not be scoring like he was at the start of the season, but his head hasn’t dropped, he’s still working hard and he adds a huge amount to the team.

He’s scoring tonight. 100%.

[szola]

https://www.transfermarkt.com/michail-a ... ler/104124

https://understat.com/team/West_Ham/2021

He was clearly on a very good run at the start of the season.
Since he stopped scoring and assisting on a regular basis, he has had the second highest xG & xA for us, and had most key passes.
No-one have more minutes than him since 01.10 either, and we've won four of those games.

Must be doing something right.

[hammerman11]

antonio is a great player but has dropped his levels. he is still our most important attacker for us but we needed to have cover this season for when he has a dip in form, is injured ,knackered or we need a sub on to continue his fine work. bowen is good but not a replacement for antonio.
he cant play tonight and saturday after sunday. so bench him tonight and play him on saturday. its a gamble for tonight but we dont really have much choice. playing him will risk injury tonight.

Jan 1st we need a striker or at least lingard in .

[Ozza]

It's not panic, knee-jerking or knicker-wetting to say that this is the exact reason that 99% of us were crying out for backup to Antonio in the Summer.

That's not to say that he's finished, past it, lazy or any of those things. Strikers are allowed a drop-off in form. Our issue is not having one on the bench to replace him when he's struggling.

Exactly my point before the season started, to be honest im amazed he's had such a run of form without a decent backup option.

[Hockley Hammer]

If I had watched West Ham over the last 18 months I would say to stop Antonio you double team him to get him isolated. Even one of the best defenders in the PL got turned by him a couple of times in our last home game and he ended up creating corners that we scored from.

If he is occupying a couple of defenders you hope other players exploit that. Lingard certainly did. Bowen and Benny need to capitalise on what other teams have to do to nullify Antonio.

I'd still like to know who this top quality striker is that will sign for us knowing that he is basically Antonio's back-up.

Why signing Lingard still makes sense to me.

[Turtlecharityracer]

On current form I'm getting into the 'anyone but' Antonio camp. He's lack of discipline (running into other peoples spaces) and continually choosing the wrong option is affecting other players games.
The teams that progress show no sentimentality with their selections i.e what you did in the past is irrelevant as what you are doing now is all that matters.
Big game for him tonight.

[wolf359]

On current form I'm getting into the 'anyone but' Antonio camp.

Yawn.

['stone hammer]

Strange narrative that is being pushed that he has been rubbish for a while
He may not have been as effective as first couple of months, but he has been far from rubbish. He was the best player in the Premier League for the first six weeks or so so it was always going to be hard to keep that form up. Opposition managers have now wised up to how good he is and are focusing on negating his impact as much as they can

It's far from a strange narrative, maybe rubbish is a strong word, but his performances have dropped significantly from his usual high standards. Saying opposition managers have 'wised up' is a strange narrative. Antonio has been a very effective striker for the best part of 3 seasons now, barring injuries, it's no mystery what he does or how he plays and I think it's quite simply an excuse for subpar performances. I haven't seen him dominate a defence for a good few games, poor first touches and decision making have been the replacement lately.

The majority of us are all for cutting him some slack I think, how could you not be? Similarly to Fornals, there's enough credit in the bank. Players dip, it happens, I'm sure he'll find his form again, hopefully it'll be tonight.

[brooking_1980]

Its a shame we can't play Tottenham everyday as he loves scoring against them.

I reckon he'll score a(nother) classic against them in the League Cup.

[arlhe]

No idea why people feel the need to get on our players case all the time. Would anyone have said he was rubbish before the Wolves game?

They are not automata and will have spells when they are not at their best.

[jastons]

I'd still like to know who this top quality striker is that will sign for us knowing that he is basically Antonio's back-up.

We shouldn't be signing a back up, we should be signing a replacement. 50 games a season is plenty to rotate two top strikers.

[mumbles87]

Another game another poor performance

Needs replacing

Play benramha or Bowen up there least they can hold up the ball ..

He isn't that great a finisher either so not exactly a loss.