On the domestic stage, it was a season of struggle for West Ham United’s, Michail Antonio.
The 34-year-old only scored six Premier League goals as the Hammers finished outside of Europe and parted ways with their long-standing manager, David Moyes.
The hard-hitting striker has gone to this summer’s Copa America with Jamaica in poor form and also his nation without star man, Leon Bailey after the Aston Villa winger asked to be excluded.
Even with a strong side, Jamaica are going to find it tough in Copa America and you aren’t expecting them to do much.
Even though they boast a few well-known players, such as Michail Antonio, Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock, Fulham’s Bobby De Cordova-Reid and now Saudi Pro League player Demarai Gray.
They proceeded to lose their opening game 1-0 to Mexico and West Ham’s leading striker was subbed off when they needed a goal.
This baffled Ale Moreno and he stated that ‘you don’t take him off, ever’ and shared how Antonio is possibly ‘the most dominant player in Concacaf’, as he told ESPN.
West Ham fans probably hope that Antonio was taken off quicker on certain occasions during the recently concluded campaign because there were times when he did struggle – things could now vastly change with Julen Lopetegui now in charge.
But this is a much lower level and it’s not a good look on the player that he isn’t playing the entire game given the circumstances.
Michail Antonio at Copa America with Jamaica
“I tell you what I do know and this goes back to Jamaica and the coaching decisions,” said Moreno. “If you have Antonio on the field, you don’t take him off, ever! You just don’t take him off.
“He is physically a dominant player. One of the most dominant if not the most dominant player in Concacaf. He is your source of danger. He is the guy that can be a presence inside the 18-yard box and you are trailing late.
“Who is going to be able to get on a second ball? Who is going to create or manufacture chaos by being inside the 18-yard box, from Jamaica’s perspective? It has to be Antonio. I have no idea for the life of me how he gets taken off the field.”
Michail Antonio’s West Ham career
When the dust has settled, Antonio will be highly regarded for what he did at the London Stadium after moving from Nottingham Forest in 2015.
It needs to be noted that he arrived as a tricky winger, and even played at right-back on times, those days were interesting.
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But as of this moment, he has a very respectable 67 Premier League goals to his name, which is pretty good going for someone who isn’t even supposed to be an out-and-out forward.
Plus, Antonio was part of several trips in Europe and the best one of them all was when they won the Europa Conference League in Prague.
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