WHZ Tactics: Anonymous Antonio needs forward support in West Ham v Arsenal
Michail Antonio has had two games to forget but he will be itching to get back on the goal trail on Sunday as West Ham host Arsenal in a London derby.
The Irons are seven points ahead of the Gunners but after two defeats in three, both to clubs in Manchester, they need to get back on a winning run.
To overcome the visitors they will likely require Antonio to spring back to life after subdued performances against Manchester United and Leeds United.
Against the former Antonio’s xG was just 0.04 as he managed just one shot which flew way off target while the home clash with Leeds brought up an xG of zero as he failed to register a shot [Wyscout].
West Ham ran out 2-0 winners against Leeds but while the result looked comfortable it centred more on a penalty, a corner kick and the wastefulness of the opponents.
Antonio was industrious as ever but was either anonymous in the attack or left completely isolated, as he was once again v Manchester United.
At West Ham Zone we have highlighted how Antonio has suffered as a result of our inability to get bodies forward.
Antonio lost possession 21 times at Old Trafford last Sunday [Wyscout] – he has only given the ball away more on one occasion this season [v Crystal Palace on January 26].
But as you can see below he was often left alone with no teammates anywhere to be found for support.
In the first image Jarrod Bowen is the nearest Irons player and he is nearly on the other side of the pitch from Antonio and understandably the 30-year-old cedes possession with the dual force of Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw set upon him.
This next example is where Antonio can be dangerous with space to run into behind but with Victor Lindelof in attendance (and he is no slouch) he needed a midfield option to run ahead of him but that was sorely lacking against at Old Trafford.
With Jesse Lingard unavailable due to the terms of his loan agreement the Irons were crying out for a midfielder to link the play.
But one of the issues has been the volume of our long balls which can often be aimless towards Antonio.
While he is strong and a handful in the air he cannot be expected to win the ball on every occasion.
These next two examples against Leeds show how opposition defences are targeting him.
They are doubling up on him as they know there is no one in close proximity or anyone making the run in behind.
The below image shows two players in support that should be able to offer themselves as an option but both run away rather than to Antonio and the move breaks down.
We know Antonio is a warrior and he can often fashion a chance out of nothing but we need to be doing more to support him and can him and the rest of our attackers into advanced positions.
A bit more self-belief and positivity is all that is required sometimes and that has been missing in some of our clashes with the so-called ‘elite’ sides.
We don’t want to be seeing more stats like zero or 0.004 xG. Antonio showed in the two games prior that if he is fed the service he will do the business with two goals from three shots on target v Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.
Get men next to him and expect us to overawe Arsenal on Sunday.
In other West Ham news, see our exclusive interview with Frank McAvennie as he previews our clash with Arsenal.