View: West Ham boss David Moyes blames Michail Antonio for defeat
West Ham are unlikely to finish amongst the Premier League’s top four following their defeat to Spurs yesterday afternoon [March 20].
A lacklustre first half performance let the Hammers down in an otherwise fairly even encounter as David Moyes’ side left north London with a 3-1 defeat.
The Irons managed six shots throughout the game but only one on target in the shape of Said Benrahma’s first half goal.
Michail Antonio did have two brilliant opportunities to find the back of the net but the Jamaican wasted them.
Moyes’ comments after the game suggest if Antonio had taken his chances, West Ham might not have lost and the Scot has a point.
He told football.london: “Two chances yeah. I do not know if he is struggling with confidence. Mich is a good guy and he does not come over that way [as a confidence player] but if you are a No.9 at any football club you want to score goals and that will fill your confidence.
“He had two good opportunities, and somebody told me Spurs had four shot on target and we had one, and Tottenham scored three and we scored one.”
Let him off
This group deserves the benefit of the doubt after what they did last week. 120 minutes of very intense European knockout football on Thursday was always likely to take its toll on the players ahead of the Tottenham game.
One man who that applies to more than anyone else is Antonio. He has done excellently this season whilst being the only recognised senior striker at the club.
It is slightly frustrating because the game could have gone very differently if he had buried his chances, but he has been a hero this season and nobody should severely criticise the striker for yesterday’s performance.
He will massively benefit from not going away with Jamaica during the international break. Moyes needs to give him some time to rest and recover for what will be a hugely important final stretch of the season because if the poor performances continue in the upcoming games, it won’t be so easy to forgive the 31-year-old.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes was left frustrated after repetitive top four questions.
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