‘Not good enough’: Trevor Sinclair criticises two West Ham players after FA Cup loss

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West Ham hero Trevor Sinclair fears Andriy Yarmolenko “isn’t good enough” to play as a striker after the Ukrainian struggled in last night’s FA Cup defeat at Manchester United, speaking to talkSPORT (10 February, 10am).

With Michail Antonio resting his weary limbs back home, the £17 million, £115,000-a-week Yarmolenko was handed a rare start at Old Trafford – in an unnatural position to boot.

And, if the 1-0 FA Cup fifth-round loss is anything to go by, David Moyes won’t repeat the experiment any time soon.

Yarmolenko, a right-winger by trade, looked lost in an ill-fitting number nine role.

A lack of service certainly didn’t help and it was no surprise when his number 17 shirt flashed up on the substitution board with only 53 minutes on the clock.

And Sinclair feels West Ham are counting the cost of failing to replace Sebastien Haller during the January window, with no other natural centre-forward options in Moyes’ squad.

“Antonio struggles to play every game, especially with the fixture pile-up we’ve got in the Premier League now,” Sinclair explains.

“So who plays (instead)? I just feel the options West Ham have in that position – Yarmolenko – he’s not quite good enough as a striker.

“They’ve got Jarrod Bowen, who could do a good job. But it’s one of the most difficult positions to learn on the pitch.”

90Min recently suggested Mipo Odubeko could be offered a first-team opportunity before the end of the season.

But, after being brought on in the second half, the teenager suffered the ignominy of being dragged back off again once Scott McTominay opened the scoring in extra time.

“I felt for the kid. It’s not a nice feeling,” Sinclair adds.

“There’s two ways you can react to that. You can feel sorry for yourself, trip over your own lip and say ‘why me, it’s not fair’.

“Or you can respond in the right way, analyse your game, work out what you could do better and learn from that.”

Sinclair feels Odubeko may have felt inhibited at Old Trafford just seven days after another highly rated youngster, Alex Jankewitz, was sent off on his Premier League debut for an overzealous challenge seconds into Southampton’s 9-0 defeat.

“That maybe played a part in Odubeko’s mentality going into the game and that’s why he was too passive, ineffective. There was no intensity or enthusiasm about his game.”