View: David Moyes must adapt to Antonio hammer blow
The loss of Michail Antonio for up to four weeks is undoubtedly a significant one for West Ham and their manager David Moyes.
The 30-year-old had been outstanding so far this season, with three goals from the opening six matches, including an overhead kick against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
His unique combination of strength, intelligence and movement made him a handful for defenders to deal with, while his burgeoning relationship with Jared Bowen and Pablo Fornals was clearly bearing fruit.
However, in his absence Moyes must look to adjust the formula and find a way to re-align his attack with someone else as his spearhead.
The obvious answer is Sebastien Haller, who arrived at the club last summer for a record £45 million. Undoubtedly a talented player, things have not quite clicked for the former Eintracht Frankfurt man.
With seven goals from 32 appearances last season, he has shown flashes of quality but failed to deliver often enough (via WhoScored). Moyes has looked to encourage the 6 ft 3 in Frenchman this season, but without a league start and just one goal, the Scotsman clearly has not been willing to trust him. However, now he has no choice.
In terms of style, Haller does not have speed of Antonio and attempts far fewer dribbles than the Englishman, who averaged 2.8 per match last season to Haller’s 0.8. Instead, the Frenchman prefers to connect with other players, completing more passes than Antonio on average last year, 24 to 18.6 (via WhoScored).
Haller is also good in the air and uses his height to great effect. With 6.8 aerial duels won per match last season, he is West Ham’s most dangerous weapon in the air by some margin (via WhoScored). In Aaron Cresswell, the Hammers have an excellent crosser, and deliver 21 crosses per game on average, the fourth highest in the league.
With Haller in the team, they must lean into this quality and look to optimise his skill set. Unfortunately, the 26-year-old cannot tear in behind oppositions defences like Antonio, but in the absence of their talisman, the Hammers will need to adapt.
In other West Ham news, Hammers youngster Tunji Akinola has been in impressive form while on loan at Leyton Orient.