WHZ View: Profligate Antonio has cost at times West Ham with series of near-misses
Michail Antonio might be starting to feel like the unlucky figure of East London but a deeper dive into his near misses show the West Ham forward must step up.
David Moyes’ side have scored 45 Premier League goals this season but it could be so much more.
According to Wyscout, the Irons have hit the post 16 times in the Premier League this season – that’s three more than closest challengers Brighton.
Antonio has been the chief source of these as he accounts for 25% of the total while Pablo Fornals (three), Declan Rice and Angelo Ogbonna (both two) are other players to strike the woodwork on multiple occasions.
This represents a wider problem for Antonio – his xG this season sits at 0.55 per 90 but his actual goal rate is 0.35.
He’s now failed to hit the target with any of his last five efforts and his latest one versus Arsenal was a shocker.
At West Ham Zone we took a look at each of Antonio’s four attempts that hit the post this season and gave them a WHZ rating out of 10 for its difficulty (0=no chance of scoring, 10=glaring miss), starting with that awful effort against the Gunners.
The goal was at Antonio’s mercy at the London Stadium last weekend but he still contrived to miss from just a yard out.
The only defence we can muster here is that he is stretching but that was partly his fault due to a delayed run.
WHZ rating: 9/10 – Had to score
The previous two efforts came in the same half against Crystal Palace on January 26.
The first was the more difficult of the two as he struck from outside the box but he was still given plenty of time to position himself for the strike while the goalkeeper left the majority of the goal wide open.
WHZ rating: 7/10 – Must be more clinical
The second was just about on a par with last weekend’s effort.
Sure, the ball was not intended to come to him and it was travelling at a fair rate of knots but it appeared more difficult to hit the far post than the middle of the goal.
With the goalkeeper vacant and the pathway to goal pretty much clear it was another shocker.
WHZ rating: 9/10 – Just how…
We have come full circle as Antonio’s first effort against the post in the Premier League this season came in the reverse fixture with Arsenal in a 2-1 defeat on September 19.
This was the most difficult of the lot – he leapt well and hung in the air to meet the aerial delivery but with Tomas Soucek and an Arsenal defender in he could not direct his header downwards.
WHZ rating: 5/10 – Presence of Soucek proved pivotal
What’s clear to see from these stats and examples is Antonio isn’t getting unlucky as perhaps was first thought.
With his looks of anguish and outstretched boots trying to connect it can sometimes appear as if the opportunity has just evaded Antonio and that he has been unlucky rather than profligate.
However his xG stats highlight he is not converting as many chances as he should be, and he could have had at least three goals from these attempts shown above.
He needs to produce more to inspire us to a European spot this season.
In other West Ham news, see our exclusive interview with Frank McAvennie to hear his praise for Declan Rice.