West Ham star Michail Antonio lauded Lucy Ward
West Ham striker Michail Antonio impressed Lucy Ward with his display against Rapid Vienna.
The 31-year-old didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet after starting his second match in the Europa League this season, but he did provide an assist for Declan Rice, and his performance earned praise from Ward.
For the goal, he showed great composure to bring down Andriy Yarmolenko’s pass and play it across for Rice, who slammed the ball into the net.
Speaking on BT Sport, she said: “It’s a great story, and he’s played in all different positions.
“Since he’s been with David Moyes, he’s refined him into a proper centre-forward who can finish.
“He has all the attributes to be a top, top centre-forward.
Ian Darke then added later on, “He’s a handful for any defender.”
Antonio delivers again.
It was a slight surprise to see that Moyes decided to start the 31-year-old, given that he is the club’s only first-team forward.
However, he was a real handful for the Vienna defence, who couldn’t get near him in the time he was on the pitch.
When he went off, the Hammers lost a bit of their momentum, and the Austrian side grew into the game, but they couldn’t equalise, and the Irons held on.
Antonio didn’t score, but he was influential for the Irons and made a huge difference once again.
Despite this, though, it was a wise decision to take him off because they have a tough match on Sunday against Brentford.
In truth, the Irons need a backup striker because they can’t keep playing Antonio in every game when they are competing in on three fronts.
In other West Ham news, Lucy Ward was blown away by one Irons star in the first half.
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