On Thursday night West Ham United play the biggest game of their 2022/23 season, so David Moyes is unlikely to take kindly to the news that one of his strikers is ‘tired.’
At the business end of the season is when you need all of your players fit and firing, and if the Hammers want to defeat AZ Alkmaar over the two legs of their Europa Conference League semi-final, they can’t afford to include any passengers in their squad.
Domestically, Moyes and his charges have suffered throughout the campaign, the recent mini-revival notwithstanding, however in Europe, they’ve been imperious.
Apart from one drawn game at Gent in the first leg of their quarter-final, the Hammers have won their other 11 games, and they find themselves again within touching distance of a European final.
The pain of losing to Eintracht Frankfurt in last season’s Europa League semis should spur them on this time around, but only if every player is up for the fight.
“I am tired bro,” Michael Antonio said on the Footballer’s Football Podcast, after the win over Man United.
“I am tired, it was an energetic game.
“End to end, and I think we should have maybe finished the game off sooner rather than holding out but we needed that three points! It was a fight, we are buzzing.”
The excuse of too many games and tiredness appears to be one that has been used more and more over recent years.
When Manchester United were winning the treble in 99, or Liverpool were in their European pomp in the late 70s and early 80s, it was the adrenaline and pride in wearing the shirt that arguably got them through.
For Antonio to openly admit his shortcomings, and on a podcast no less… it really only leaves Moyes with one choice.