Slaven Bilic was appointed as manager last summer following four years of Sam Allardyce at the helm. The Croatian was unproven in a top European league but now we are twelve months into his tenure and he has showed just how good he is in the Premier League. This season, however, will prove to be more of a manager, with the Hammers set to compete on four fronts.
There were various decisions taken across the season that the home faithful found to be risky. Playing a youthful side in the Europa League qualifiers for example, but Bilic showed just how right he was as the Irons went on to win 2-0 at the Emirates on the opening day. The signing of Dimitri Payet also proved to be one of the steals of the century, with the Frenchman showing that he is capable of playing for any club side in world football.
But life is never perfect, and now we are faced with a new conundrum: Michail Antonio playing at right-back.
To give some context to the situation, Antonio had never played as a right-back prior to joining West Ham. He predominantly featured as a winger for both Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest, and on a few occasions, he even played as a striker (another position that is a blossoming issue at the club).
Antonio was first shifted to the right-back position during the FA Cup replay against Liverpool following the termination of Carl Jenkinson’s loan, Joey O’Brien’s injury and Sam Byram’s ineligibility. As expected, the Englishman put in a great shift for the team and the East Londoners went on to win the tie.
However, fans started to question the decision to continue to play the 26-year-old in this position, especially as more options became available for the manager to start with.
Unfortunately, one would assume that Antonio has made more mistakes than the manager would have liked whilst he has been playing as a defender, but we must believe in Bilic just as we do with every other decision he makes.
It is clear to the eye, particularly following the first leg performance against NK Domzale that he is struggling in this position. But Bilic has given us so much pleasure since he has taken over the dugout that I cannot help but feel that we have to trust him on this one.
There are parallels with Bilic’s management of the former winger Darijo Srna whilst he was managing the Croatian national team. He is now one of the best right-backs in the world and captains his national side in spite of growing up as a right midfielder.
What’s also good to see is that Antonio is co-operating with the role that he is being asked to fulfil and he will only get better the more he plays in this position. Eight goals in the Premier League last season shows that he has bags of talent and we cannot wait to see him back in action for the new campaign.
