David Moyes has played down speculation on how serious or otherwise of Michail Antonio’s injury may be but has admitted he will play no part on Saturday in the Hammers game against Liverpool at Anfield.
The 57-year-old manager speaking to the media on a virtual press conference at 9am this morning was asked about Antonio as his first question.
And he explained to journalists “He’s been great for us, he’s an important member of the team. We don’t think it is too bad but it is enough to keep him out of this game that is for sure.”
We will miss him, Micky has been as good as any striker in the league.”
A Talksport report tweet earlier suggested that Antonio could be out of action with his hamstring for four weeks but the manager did not talk about the length of time his key man will be out.
He’s an experienced manager and is clearly not prepared to let clubs we are meeting over the next few weeks know whether the player will be available against them.
However, it is strange that having kept the story – rightly – a secret all week talkSPORT were in a position to tweet the news which presumably will be followed by a story later.
Someone, somewhere has leaked but the manager himself could be asked why he has announced the player’s absence from the Liverpool game 24 hours before it kicks off.
This gives Jurgen Klopp ample time to change his approach to the game. All very odd at a time when he is stamping down hard on the leaky Hammers.
Couldn’t he have simply said he will face a fitness test before the game?
The story broke yesterday by talk sport. Let me see now, is there anybody on West Ham’s coaching staff that also works for talk sport? Erm, no. Apart from Stuart Pearce that is and he wouldn’t, would he?