West Ham forward Michail Antonio did not help his claims for a recall to the first team after a rather poor substitute appearance against Bournemouth on Monday night.
Manager David Moyes sent the 32-year-old on with fifteen minutes to go, replacing Gianluca Scamacca, but he failed to make an impression on the match.
Antonio’s job was to hold up the play and ensure the Hammers had an out ball but he failed to make an impact as the Cherries piled on the pressure to find an equaliser. Supporters on Twitter weren’t particularly happy with his contributions:
Bambi on ice!
— Shaun Richards (@richards_shaun) October 25, 2022
Did not get going
— ⚒Ⓟⓗⓘⓛⓘⓟ ⚒ 🫧⚒ Ⓦⓘⓛⓚⓘⓝⓢⓞⓝ ⚒ (@PW57WHU) October 25, 2022
Got out muscled a lot for him
— Will ⚒ (@whufc_wills) October 25, 2022
A bit of both but he gave the ball away every time it went to him
— Whucentre (@whucentre) October 25, 2022
Shocking
— Freddie ⚒ (@freddiewhu1) October 25, 2022
Needs to stay on his feet.
— Andy Hicks (@andyhammer73) October 25, 2022
0 hold up play, he fell over whenever he got the ball which is amazing because he’s built like a heavyweight boxer
— Sofian⚒🇵🇰 (@PABLOFORNALS_) October 25, 2022
The main reason we were under so much pressure in the last 15-20 mins. He provided no outlet whatsoever.
— Sue Johnson (@Sueishername) October 25, 2022
It certainly wasn’t the sort of display that would get him back ahead of Scamacca in the pecking order. While the Italian has continued to impress in recent outings, Antonio has, in contrast, been rather underwhelming.
There is no doubt that Moyes may prefer to deploy the Jamaican in certain matches, when he sets up his team to counter-attack, but Antonio may have to be satisfied with cameos from the bench in the majority of fixtures.
