West Ham will almost certainly be delighted with the result in their Europa League clash against Backa Topola on Thursday night, if not the performance.
The Serbian side even had the audacity to take the lead in the match just after half-time, before the Hammers staged an impressive fightback which eventually saw them run out 3-1 winners.
It puts the east Londoners at the top of Group A on goal difference ahead of Freiburg who they play next.
Record signing, Lucas Paqueta, might be demanding a bit more from some of his colleagues if his reaction to a missed chance in Thursday’s game is anything to go by.
“He’s furious with Michail Antonio there, Lucas Paqueta, because he put it on a plate for him but his first touch was woeful really,” Don Hutchison, speaking on TNT Sports (h/t Hammers News), remarked.
“He’s not happy because that should have been 3-1.”
Frankly, a player of Paqueta’s evident skill has every right to expect the best from his team-mates.
If West Ham aspire to be amongst the best teams in the Premier League and Europe, then when chances present themselves they have to be taken.
It’s little wonder that Man City wanted the player in the summer, and that’s a move that may still happen in the future depending on the outcome of an enquiry into betting irregularities which has implicated Paqueta.
In the meantime, Michail Antonio and everyone else that pulls on a claret and blue shirt alongside the Brazilian can expect to feel his wrath if Paqueta feels that standards are dropping.
Hes right but Antonio isnt a natural striker. He needs to shout at moyes,the backroom staff & the owners for not getting a striker again & puting
it on antonios back Again.