The wait goes on for Michail Antonio.
It is common for strikers to go through lean spells but for Antonio, the worry is that the longer he goes in search of his next goal, the more his overall performances will be affected.
Following the 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, with Tomas Soucek grabbing the opener, Antonio has not scored for West Ham since the 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in October. He remains the club’s top scorer with seven goals in all competitions but his lack of impact is becoming a concern.
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In Antonio’s last five league outings against Brighton, Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Liverpool and Aston Villa, he has only registered one shot on target. Previously in fixtures where Antonio has not scored, he often left the field knowing he had given opposition defenders a rough ride. That has not been the case of late.
It was in September that Antonio was viewed as being one of the in-form forwards in the league. After scoring the winner against Leeds United, Antonio had scored more league goals (five) than Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo, and was the league’s joint-top scorer, alongside Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy.
But while some of those players have maintained their form, Antonio’s recent performances have dropped off and would merit time on the substitutes’ bench. The problem is, nearly a year after selling Sebastien Haller to Ajax, Antonio remains the club’s only recognised striker.
Apart from Jarrod Bowen and Andriy Yarmolenko as emergency striker options, the Jamaica international does not face competition for his place in the team. The only league match he has missed this season is the 2-1 loss to Manchester United, for which he was suspended. The emergence of Sonny Perkins is promising, but the 17-year-old striker is too early in his development to challenge Antonio.
It is well documented that a change in diet has helped improve Antonio’s fitness, keeping him off the treatment table and on the pitch. It is also worth highlighting that Antonio has played 1,548 minutes for club and country this season. This is in huge contrast to this stage last term, with the forward only registering 530 minutes on the pitch before Christmas.
“We have managed his games and he has set high standards and expectations,” said Moyes. “I hope it is like any striker who goes through periods of not scoring goals and I am hoping we get a bundle of goals from Micky (Antonio) soon. There were bits of his play tonight that were much better.”
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Aside from Antonio’s blip in form, West Ham have become wasteful in front of goal, a point Moyes referenced following the draw to Brighton. It proved to be a frustrating performance but West Ham had several chances to establish a two-goal lead. Pablo Fornals struck the bar, Shane Duffy’s own goal was ruled out after VAR checks and Bowen had three notable efforts on goal.
Bowen has missed six “big chances” this season according to Opta, the most of any West Ham player. Only Liverpool duo Salah (seven) and Sadio Mane (seven) and Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke (seven) have missed more. Bowen has a tremendous work rate but is often profligate in front of goal.
In the image below, Vladimir Coufal attempts a shot from distance, which is spilt by Brighton goalkeeper Roberto Sanchez.
The rebound falls to Bowen, who miskicks, allowing a relieved Sanchez to regain possession.
Later on, a Sanchez clearance falls to Bowen and the winger is urged to shoot from his own half by the crowd.
Bowen obliges but his wayward effort fails to capitalise on the goalkeeper’s error.
But this, below, was arguably Bowen’s best chance. The winger made a brilliant advancing run but his right-footed strike narrowly went past the post.
It is moments such as those that Moyes was alluding to when he talked of West Ham’s lack of composure in front of goal.
They rank fourth in the league with 15 “big chances” scored this term — only Liverpool (32), Chelsea (16) and Manchester (15) have more. But given the number of chances West Ham create, Moyes and Co will believe it should be a lot higher. As a team, they have missed 13 “big chances”, with Michail Antonio (four), Pablo Fornals, Mark Noble and Soucek (one each) the other guilty players.
“I did not enjoy the performance but enjoyed the opportunities we had to score,” said Moyes. “I’ve been saying for a while we need to be more clinical. We had two or three chances to finish it off and did not take them.
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“That’s the disappointment and we could have played much better tonight. I do think that our play warranted more goals.”
West Ham will hope they are still in top-four contention as the January transfer window looms, bringing with it an opportunity to provide Antonio with more support and competition. The most pressing issue for Moyes until then will be addressing Antonio’s subdued performances.
(Top photo: Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)