TalkSport’s Alex Crook has bemoaned David Moyes’ lack of appetite to play West Ham United duo Michail Antonio and Gianluca Scamacca at the same time.
West Ham will have left Old Trafford on Sunday evening feeling potentially hard done by and that they should have at least taken a point from the game, with David de Gea pulling off numerous top-class saves as the Hammers finished the match with an XG value of 0.9.
Despite the Hammers chasing the game deep into the second half, Moyes decided to hook summer signing Scamacca and replace him with Antonio instead of opting to play with two centre-forwards.
Crook has slammed Moyes’ apparent reluctance to play the pair together while speaking on the GameDay podcast.
He said: “I think there’s still a frustration at Moyes’ reluctance to partner Scamacca with Michail Antonio, and unless that changes, it’s difficult, really, to see West Ham hitting the heights they have in the last couple of seasons and mounting a European challenge.”
Who should be starting for West Ham?
Antonio!
Scamacca!
TIF Thoughts on Moyes’ Scamacca and Antonio dilemma…
Something that won’t have helped Moyes’ case in any way was when Antonio revealed on Match of the Day 2 that he and Scamacca are never on the same team in training, meaning they can’t form any sort of partnership between them during the week.
Therefore, that would suggest Moyes has very little interest or desire to play both of his main strikers at the same time despite the Hammers’ clear lack of consistent form in the final third, having scored just 11 goals all season.
If one of them is to start, then it’s a tough choice for Moyes: does he opt for the expensive and big-name Italian international in the form of Scamacca, or go with Antonio, who’s served him well over the last few seasons – and this dilemma could be solved by simply starting both of them.