West Ham United ace Michail Antonio admitted that he hated playing in the centre-forward position at first, when speaking to Sky Sports (Sunday January 31st, 13:20).
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The 30-year-old was converted to a centre-forward earlier last year by David Moyes, having spent most of his time in the game as a winger.
In fairness to Antonio, he has done brilliantly well when playing in the centre-forward position.
The former Nottingham Forest ace has scored 14 goals in his last 24 Premier League games for the Hammers.
There is so much pressure on Michy’s shoulders now, however.
He is the only recognised senior striker at the London Stadium after David Moyes failed to bring in a centre-forward last month.
Michail Antonio makes admission that may worry West Ham fans
He is far from a natural in that position either.
And Antonio admitted that he hated playing through the middle at first for West Ham, when speaking to Sky Sports (Sunday January 31st, 13:20):
“I hated it at first. When you’ve got your back to play, centre-halves are coming through the back of you, they’re hitting you in the back. In the Premier League, it’s a physical game but as a centre-forward you’ve got to ride. You’ve got to tense your body but your foot has got to be soft enough to control the ball. How I’ve done that and worked on it, basically in training I go to Angelo, ‘we’re fighting today’. I’m gonna be pinning him the entire training session.”
Fair play to Antonio. He has obviously worked very hard to evolve his game over the past 12 months.
The fact that our only senior striker has had to work so hard to become accustomed to playing through the middle will be a real worry for the West Ham fans, however.
Let’s just hope that Antonio continues to produce the goods between now and the end of the season and most importantly, let’s pray that he stays fit!
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