Mikey Antonio is set to miss most – if not all – of the remainder of the season.
After the Daily Mail reported this morning that the Hammers were bracing themselves for the worst case scenario we understand that to be the case.
The ‘paper reported that Antonio after a scan, the severity of the injury on his left leg was still unconfirmed but that he would miss a significant part of the Champions League push.
We have now learned that the 31 year old has a badly torn hamstring and with partial tears taking between four to eight weeks to heal, and worse up to three months, it’s really bad news for Mikey and the club
It means – almost certainly – that Jarrod Bowen will become the central striker for the rest of the present campaign.
But it remains a massive blow that two key players in Mikey and Declan should have been hit with such awful injury problems at this critical point of the season and the manager
i think its going to cost us.Hope not but how do you run a football club on one striker?Now i hope to be shown ! If not we will have missed our best chance for years of achieving something. And yes i will be VERY angry. But play like we did at Leicester and will not be a prob !
What do you call a bloke who scores 6 goals in a handful of games plus 4 assists. Don’t get your point Mojen
I guess the point is that we had a second option before Christmas in Haller. Since then Antonio has been available able to play most of the time, but without him our back-up option becomes a false 9 as we do not have another forward. Selling Haller was a risk that has not come off – the club took £20m for Haller while they could – but did so knowing that this might happen.
I hope the wheels do not come off but with Ogbonna, Rice and Antonio missing we have lost the spine of our team.
Maybe we can play without a forward with Bowen, Benrahma, Fornals, Lingard and Lanzini running from all sorts of angles?
Very good but the point is our only recognised striker is out. And i would rather he be in with Lingard .that is all. Which would improve our chances. We have no one to replace him.But hopefully we are still good enough.
Bowen
You call him an excellent attacking midfielder 🙂 Think your earlier comments on Bowen as a false nine is spot on, with Jesse needing to run into space and attack. Let’s see how the rest of the season goes, but I think we all agree that this season is a massive win either way, and we definitely need more options, including striker, next season
Indeed. We can call them whatever but a guy who scores that number of goals in a handful of matches may be a better bet than many average strikers available in Jan
At least it focuses management on getting in reinforcements in the Summer as Antonio has to be considered at best a bit part player in future. Sad but inevitable.
Which is why we should have bought or got a striker on loan in January.
Six goals from Lingard and 4 assist – scrathing my head
Great but our options are not what they should be-which in turn limits your best chances. I hope Lingard does do it again perhaps with help from others ! The point is we have no like for like replacement,. Which to be fair i believe you have mentioned in the past. Thats all, i just hope a great season goes to fruition and a top 4 place.
I don’t dispute recruitment has been poor prior to last summer. We need midfield cover which I’ve argued times and a coule of front men. But you never get anything halfway decent up there in Jan
It’s a devastating blow as Mickey is the only player who has the physical presence to pin teams back, unsettle defenders and create space for our attacking players. Without Declan as well, we’ll get over run and lose energy and power from our line up. Lingard Is having a stormer right now but his goals shouldn’t be mistaken as any type of replacement. Arguably, it’s the driving influence of Declan in midfield and unselfish running of Mickey that has contributed to Lingard’s goals. The squad is paper thin and we’ve rode our luck up until now with injuries. Hopefully, those that remain fit can play out of their skins and we can cling on to 4th place.
Lingard is not a striker and to have to play him there is such a waste. I agree- I hope this shows we need a minimum of 2 strikers in the summer as Antonio cannot be relied upon. And hopefully this kills any ideas he had of travelling around the world playing internationals for Jamaica too…!
What do you call a striker – a big geezer target man like Andy Carroll or regular sub King at Everton? I’m actually pretty happy with a on striker who scores that number of goals
Agreed
Is anyone actually surprised that Antonio is injured again, probably not.
We’ve just got to get on with the business of winning, in whatever way possible.
Of course the task has been made harder without our entire first choice spine, namely Ogbonna, Rice and Mikey.
Solutions are therefore required, a different formation and a tweak to our approach play is oh too apparant.
But, I believe that we shall prevail and overcome, yes some luck along the way would be welcomed too.
The sooner Lanzini, Oggy, Yarmouth and Dec are available for selection the better our squad will be equipped to cope without the “ big man Antonio.
It’s still all to play for, c’mon you Irons!
Trust Moyes. He’s sensible enough to have a Plan B knowing Mikey’s vulnerability. Lingard and Bowen are a right handful, and with Dawson, Issa and Tomas coming up for set pieces we still have a threat. We can have a false 9 and a false 10!
Its a real shame to lose Ant and Dec as it could de-rail our European push completely.
Lets be honest, we all know we needed a striker and Im pretty sure David Moyes knew that too but didnt want to buy a player that he didnt really fancy. I dont have a problem with that decision nor with the one to sell Haller.
Lets see what our management team comes up with now, so far they’ve managed to overcome adversity I hope they can do it again
I’m not sure this is the massive blow that people are suggesting. Fornals is perfectly capable of partnering Soucek in midfield, leaving space for Masuaku, Benrahma, Lingard and Bowen to terrorise the opposition defence, and Lanzini waiting in the wings to provide additional fire-power if required, and Noble to come on late to shore things up also an option. I get that it will be difficult to trust in youth given our position, but we have options. COYI.
I’m afraid Hugh,its like having the best surgeon, builder etc etc but if he is always off sick your walking a tightrope…. World class for work rate and as you said 6 goals and 4 assists Hugh but if he plays 4 misses 6 or 7 games and then does the same again it’s to much of a risk… Kept us up last season but a, 3 year contract at his age is to risky…. Such a shame about his Hamstrings… ⚒️⚒️
Yes. He’s now a 20 game a season player but has decided too to take on Jamaica as an international career. I love the bloke but I think Moyes has been entirely laterally thinking in going a different way to the traditional striker idea and it’s working so well with Jesse.
Diamond Geezer, maschalagnia, Hugh – got it right. Others saying ‘I told you so’ – so wrong. David Moyes’ headache with selection and winning play. We will be OK. All of our players know what to do and how to do it. Antonio is brilliant. We will miss his contributions but the rest of the team deserve a bit of credit for knowing how to play too.
Bad news on Antonio prognosis but not the end of the world. Bring it on!!
COYI
A bit left field, but get Diego Costa in on a short term deal for the rest of the season. Doable as his still a free agent. Would probably cost a pretty penny in wages, but I’m sure he’d also be gagging to put himself back in the shop window…. That’s if it doesn’t take him 4 weeks to get back up to match sharpness!
If we were to get someone in for the short term result, it is important to get someone who would fit in and complement the current team of very good players. Benrahma type would not be any use – too much work and time to be of any use. Costa could be good but more likely to be expecting team to be set up to suit what he wants to do. Leave Costa in the left field. We already have a squad of players who know how to play football – we’re not desperate for anyone.
COYI
Could of had all these above arguments months ago …so obvious it was going to happen..took a gamble and we are doing well ,but having one forward whatever way you try a sugar coat it ,is ridiculous for a prem side …and who knows it could cost us europe especially with dec out as well….even more astounding that we knew hecwaz injurie prone with his hamstrings yet still decided to not get at least one back up .just because its been a great season dosnt mean it still wasn’t a massive mistake up because who knows we’re we would be now if we had another option..could of made a difference in the games were we dropped points….
False 9 could work with Bowen and Jesse and even benrhama so keep the faith and let’s go and attack Leicester and give it a go… Its been a great season so let’s see where it takes us… Keep up the good work Hugh and the rest of the team COYI ⚒️⚒️⚒️
Yarmo can strike and he will be back soon. Not as good defending corners as Antonio but better than Bowen.
No point wondering what might have been, just get on with it.
It’s a bit tiresome having all the ‘I told you so’ posts with just complaints about a great season. We haven’t even tried the mobile false nine option yet and its a write off? Eight games, play with who we have. Same as any team – would Spuds miss Kane? Of course. I’m glad Haller gone: chuffed with Bowen, Forrnals, Lingard. Defence is great. Youngsters on the cusp, and we know what we want in summer. COYI
I still think they need to try Benrahma as the line striker, he has energy and skill and just might surprise us. We won’t need ask him to come back and defend and it might just suit him to try taking defenders on with his pace and skill
Hugh sticking up for having only one striker (also an actual winger), doesn’t look good.
Your only argument regarding Lingaard goals and assists (yes assists) and the position he has played whilst doing so should tell you something . He’s not a striker. Or a replacement for one.
I don’t believe your football knowledge is this limited.