Brendan Rodgers told his pre-match press conference that the ‘unbelievable’ West Ham forward, Michail Antonio, is like a ‘counter-attack on his own’.
It’s a crying shame that West Ham’s powerhouse will miss today’s clash with Leicester City after suffering a potentially season-ending hamstring injury on Monday night at Wolves, as reported by the Guardian.
Whilst it’s a setback for those Champions League-chasers in Claret and Blue, they proved against Wolves that they can cope without Declan Rice and now they need to do the same with Antonio.
Rodgers sees enormous quality in the £7 million star’s boots (Sky Sports) and how pivotal he is to West Ham’s style of play.
“They are very, very good on the counter-attack,” said Rodgers. “Michail Antonio is like a counter-attack on his own.
“He is just unbelievable how he has been playing and to the level.”
In David Moyes’ first stint as West Ham boss, he transformed the struggling yet arrogant, Marko Arnautović, into a goalscoring forward after his problems out wide.
And whilst Antonio wasn’t struggling like the Austrian, nor had the arrogance of his former teammate, Moyes has brought this goalscoring threat out of the 31-year-old.
Whether the former Nottingham Forest man is scoring overhead kicks or bringing out his book of tricks when one v one with a defender, one thing is for sure, Antonio has become a nightmare to deal with.
But luckily for Rodgers sake, his players don’t have to deal with him today.
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