Stuart Pearce supports 31 y/o West Ham man to get back to his best
Stuart Pearce has publicly backed West Ham ace Michail Antonio, amid growing concerns about his form.
On Wednesday night, Antonio failed to score for the fifth Premier League game in a row against Brighton & Hove Albion [01 December], making it just one goal in his last ten in all competitions.
David Moyes can’t exactly drop Antonio and replace him with another first-team striker because he doesn’t have one.
However, the Hammers coach has backed the Jamaican international to come good.
Speaking on talkSPORT [02 December], he said: “He’s working hard, it’s like everything.
“He started the season so well pushing his standards up, he scored six goals in a really short space of time, and there was a lot of talk about him.
“At this moment, he’s just got to work through it. If he had stayed onside yesterday and if that ball [had] grazed him as it’s gone in, he would have broke that hoodoo and won us the game.
“So, he’s an effective player for us, no doubt; he’ll come back again, no problems there.”
Full support from Pearce.
Considering Antonio has only recently adapted his game to become a natural striker, you would have to say that a sticky patch was always possible.
The 31-year-old has proved that he is an effective Premier League goalscorer for the Irons, but before he was a striker, he was a winger and even played at full-back sometimes!
So, this dry spell is unfortunate, but you can’t say it wasn’t expected.
The big thing for Antonio now is to keep working hard, and the chances will come.
The Hammers barely had the ball against the Seagulls, so it wasn’t as if he had that many chances to try and score and cause some problems.
Next up for the Irons is Chelsea and that could be a good opportunity for Antonio to end this little dry patch and keep his team on course for Champions League qualification.
It is great to hear Pearce publicly backing Antonio, and hopefully, he can repay that faith.
In other West Ham news, Tony Cottee discusses Jesse Lingard rejoining the Irons.
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