Michail Antonio must adapt quickly to fit into West Ham United system
Michail Antonio has struggled to force his way back into the West Ham United side ever since Gianluca Scamaca arrived at the London Stadium.
The 32-year-old again had to come off the bench against Crystal Palace and thought he had won a penalty in the second half before VAR revealed a rather embarrassing dive.
But his antics are not the reason he has been left to try and impact games from the substitute bench so far this season but rather his inability to link play as well as the Italian.
According to statistics from WhoScored, Antonio has only completed 56.6 per cent of his passes this season in six starts and a further eight substitute appearances.
That is an extremely low percentage when Scamacca makes more passes on average per game (10.3 to Antonio’s 7.6) and he completes more of them too at 66.1 per cent.
The Italian was one of Moyes’ big-money signings in the summer after Antonio had to play virtually every game last season with no other striker at the club to offer cover.
Both players have only scored twice in the Premier League so far, which is not good enough by any means, but Scamacca has plenty in the Europa Conference League to boost his stature.
Antonio is also only getting off one shot per game on average compared to his rival who is nearing two while Jarrod Bowen beats them both off the right flank.
The lack of key passes also hinders Antonio with only 0.5 per game on average which is just not up to standard for a starting striker for West Ham.
Scamacca won’t feel under any pressure from the Jamaican right now who has to put the work in on the training ground to alter his game more in line with what Moyes and the Irons are trying to do.