West Ham United were incredibly naïve on Saturday, when they failed to see out the game against Crystal Palace.
When writing his regular column for the Times, Tony Cascarino compared Michail Antonio’s costly error for the Hammers against Crystal Palace on Saturday to a mistake made by David Ginola way back in 1993, highlighting the need for managers to choose their words wisely during post-match interviews.
Slaven Bilic would have been seething with his side’s failure to close the game out, and rightly so, having led 2-0 at half-time against the Eagles.
West Ham are currently sitting precariously in 16th position in the Premier League table, just one point clear of the drop zone, and the Croatian now faces a mighty task if he is to galvanise his troops ahead of a visit from Liverpool on Saturday.
And Cascarino offered high praise for Bilic, for the manner in which he did not directly criticise Antonio for the role the 27-year-old winger played in the passage of play that led to Palace’s equaliser on Saturday, when writing his regular column for the Times:
“When France lost 2-1 to Bulgaria in 1993 and failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, manager Gérard Houllier blamed David Ginola. With the scores level at 1-1, France were through but the winger, on as a substitute, chose to cross when in an advanced position. Bulgaria cleared, countered and scored. Houllier said of Ginola: ‘He sent an Exocet missile through the heart of French football and committed a crime against the team.’ On Saturday Michail Antonio, chose to cross instead of keeping the ball for West Ham. Crystal Palace cleared, countered and equalised. Slaven Bilic was rightly critical — calling it the “wrong decision” — but he didn’t crucify his player. Mistakes can be costly but post-match comments can cause damage too.”
It must have bene a bitterly disappointing pill for Hammers fans to swallow, especially with one of their favourites being at fault for their side’s failure to bring all three points back to east London at the weekend.
And they will be hoping that the former Nottingham Forest man can bounce back and rediscover his best form, sooner rather than later.
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