Fans of West Ham United have been reacting to a post on Twitter, which discusses whether a missed goal-scoring opportunity against Arsenal last weekend was the fault of Michail Antonio or Sébastien Haller.
Antonio, who arrived at West Ham from Nottingham Forest in 2015, has made 15 Premier League appearances for the Hammers so far this season, scoring two goals and providing two assists, with the 29-year-old averaging a WhoScored match rating of 7.09.
Meanwhile, Haller, who was a £36million summer recruit from Eintracht Frankfurt, has scored seven goals and provided two assists in his 27 Premier League appearances, while averaging an impressive 7.21 WhoScored match rating.
Both Antonio and Haller played exceptionally well in West Ham’s recent 3-1 win over Southampton, with WhoScored match ratings of 8.19 and 9.68 respectively, with the 29-year-old Englishman scoring one goal and providing one assist, while the Frenchman also bagged a goal in the fixture.
However, in the Hammer’s most recent match against Arsenal, the two failed to combine as well as they had do previously, most noticeably during a goal-scoring opportunity in the first-half, in which both Antonio and Haller were through on goal but somehow failed to convert the chance.
In reaction to West Ham Gossip posting an image of the chance on Twitter, fans of West Ham have been debating whether it was Antonio’s poor pass that blew the opportunity, or whether Haller’s positioning could have been better to receive the ball.
https://twitter.com/westham_gossip/status/1236319960395382784
Poor pass
— ??SuperJarrodBowen?? (@ForevrWestham) March 7, 2020
Poor pass BUT if Haller had held his run , Antonio’s decision making and pass would have been easier to execute .
— West Ham Geezer ? (@WHUFCGeezer) March 7, 2020
Haller hiding behind luiz doesn’t help but it’s got to be better from Antonio
— vinder? (@whuvinder) March 7, 2020
Poor positioning from haller
— Lee Mapley (@mapley2101) March 7, 2020
Diabolical pass from Antonio under zero pressure he has to find Haller but massively over hits it & plays in behind him.
Criminal not being able to make that pass when given that much time & space
— Mike (@mhare641) March 7, 2020
The pass was poor the run was poor – watch the pass in real time shocking.
— JoeyHDGaming ? (@Jo3yHDGaming) March 7, 2020
I’ve said it before our players have no intelligence when it really matter in key scoring moments
— ?Don Raphael?? (@Reeko007) March 7, 2020
Haller is at fault, hold the run stay behind the defender don’t run ahead of him and you get a tap in. Anyone who thinks otherwise hasn’t played football. Its really school boy stuff .
— Mark Flynn ? #GSBOUT (@Markdfly1) March 7, 2020
What do we think?
Although West Ham can consider themselves unlucky to take nothing from a game in which the Arsenal goalkeeper won Man of the Match, the result will have done nothing to ease their growing relegation concerns.
David Moyes stated after the game: “I don’t want us to be a hard-luck story. I told my players I thought they played well but let’s get rid of that tag. We can’t let that happen again. We have got to be more ruthless. At this stage, I would rather we had not played well and won.”
The Hammers occupy 16th place in the Premier League table, however, only goal difference is currently keeping them out of the bottom three.