The Michael Antonio nonsense came back to haunt Slaven Bilic n the biggest possible way tonight
The only good thing is that it happened in the first game of the season and he can be left in no dount that the boy can never be played in the right back role again.
He gave away a penalty – ironically having defended quite well prior to his error – but he was caught the wrong side of Cesar Azpilicueta and brought him down for Eden Hazard to step up and slam home the spot kick.
For the record James Collins thrashed home a fantastic equaliser but there was heartbreak near the end when Diego Costa fired a fine shot past Adrian who had made three or four top saves earlier.
Slav decided within minutes of the Antonio penalty giveaway to bring on Sam Byram and remove the winger from the action presumably on acoount of his mental state after the goal.
There is not one fan or Hammers insider who undertands why the manager persists in this tactic and it has to stop – it really and truly does.
He is unquestionably the best wideman in the club and has to restored to a position which saw him become so admired on the terraces last season.
We were second best throughout but looked a different proposition when Dimi came off the bench. This was a very good Chelsea team and we battled hard throughout.
But it could and should have been so different and it was all about playing an out and out winger at right back.
It has to end here!
Have a feeling Antonio will ask for a transfer request pretty soon. No one can blame him if he does. One of best players being wasted playing in a position he is clearly not comfortable in.
Shocking performance tonight, Bilic got it all wrong or was in fact making a point to our owners.
Worse thing is despite our poorly we played we got screwed over but that god damn awful referee Anthony Bloody Taylor.
https://twitter.com/WHUFC_News/status/765292116960546817
Antonio looks mighty F’d off.
What is wrong with slav…..This Antonio nonsense has to stop……the man must be going crazy played out of position…….let him score goals not defend.
Like pretty well everyone else, I have been astounded by this obsession Slav seems to have about Antonio. To repeat what I wrote on the subject a couple of weeks ago, either the owners have to force him to stop this experiment or we’ll lose one of the best wingers we ever had…or is that the object of the exercise, is it just that putting him back on the wing means that his own recent buys will have severe competition for their spot?
This is also my view. He has forced Antonio out to accommodate Feghouli, but it seems in his mind he thinks, lets keep the fans happy and keep Antonio on the pitch even if it is the wrong position. He could be the best English winger in years and Slav is destroying his confidence.
Antonio in my view is still pick of the bunch in the wing department.
Why the continued selection in RB is ludicrous, especially after the purchase of Byram who looks like he will be up to the task given a chance.
I know the mantra is “In Slav We Trust”, and most of the time he readily accepts when he’s made mistakes and will rectify them, but for some unknown reason he does seem terribly blinkered when it comes to this playing Antonio at RB thing. I hope Antonio has more character than to decide to jump ship, but it is worrying. Hopefully the fact that Byram put in a decent performance after he came on will show he is worth a starting place against Bournemouth, with Antonio being used where we know he can be devastating, which is bombing down the wing and getting crosses in for the Big Man to attack
He has his favorites Tore and now Fegul……seems like Antonio is being f****ed over……if this does not stop then we will have the best stadium in the championship
Put Byrom in lets return to superman Antonio on the wing