Michail Antonio says complacency behind West Ham's poor run of form
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Monday 4 February 2019 20:27, UK
Michail Antonio thinks complacency has been behind West Ham's poor run of results, but thinks facing Liverpool will bring them back to form.
Antonio told Sky Sports the West Ham squad had felt they should win games against Bournemouth, AFC Wimbledon and Wolves after beating Arsenal last month - but had not shown the fight required to live up to those expectations.
Results against the big six have been reasonable, with two wins and a draw from seven games - a run which seemed unlikely after their opening day thumping at Liverpool.
Six months later they can finally enact revenge on Jurgen Klopp's men at the London Stadium, live on Monday Night Football from 7pm, and Antonio is convinced the arrival of the Premier League leaders will motivate West Ham to cause an upset.
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He said: "The only thing I could say in hindsight [to explain our form] is complacency. We've won against Arsenal, we were on a good run and then the games we've lost, Bournemouth, Wimbledon and Wolves, people will say we should get a decent result from, that's where we've got nothing. That's what I'll have to put it down to.
"The opening day game against Liverpool was difficult to take. We'd come off pre-season, we felt positive, and then to get a 4-0 thumping by Liverpool was tough.
"Their form shows they're not the fighting force they were at the beginning of the season when they were running over teams, but now they've shown a bit more of a weakness. It shows we can go out there and probably get something from the game - especially with our form against the top-six teams. We just have to go out and believe in ourselves."
In West Ham's latest defeat at Wolves, the visitors failed to register a single shot on target and missed the opportunity to jump up to seventh in the Premier League.
Antonio played 90 minutes as a striker in that game - but complacency was far from at the forefront of his mind at the end of a long coach journey back to London.
He said: "We were disappointed in the way we performed. Those are the kind of games we want to win, and get as high up the league as we possibly can. The way we lost it was very hard to take.
"To be honest, I struggled to sleep after the game. Especially the way we lost the game, the fact we had no shots on target. As an attacking player that's hard to take.
"It's my job and you have to take your job seriously, being in the game, losing the way we did is just difficult to take especially after the defeat at AFC Wimbledon. We've just got to dust ourselves down and go again."
