Moyes To Have Antonio On Bench

This is what we have been told by a previously reliable source, Antonio's absence from the game against Manchester United meant the difference between the two teams, there is every possibility had he played that he would have 'feasted' on what could have become an extremely porous defence for the visitors.

Antonio was imperious against Dinamo Zagreb, making their defence look completely 2nd rate as he bossed them all over the pitch. West Ham are a different team when he isn't playing, there is still speed and guile in abundance, but no one can recreate his bustling, brawling and bullying of defenders.

The issue for David Moyes is does he cotton wool is prize attacking option for the Barclays Premier League game against Leeds on Saturday, or does he risk him for a virtually worthless competition? There is a caveat to that statement, IF Hammers were to have progressed and won the competition, then fans would have rightly celebrated winning some silver ware, albeit for a devalued Cup.

However without wishing to be pessimistic, that 'ain't gonna happen' as the club play Ronaldo fest part deaux, except it will now be Lingardfest 2:0! With the best will in the world it is hard to compare each club's B teams, David Moyes has done a magnificent job towards building a superb 1st team that can take on anybody on their day, unfortunately the gulf in the clubs' relative resources is absolutely vast beyond compare!

There is pride to play for and perhaps that goes some way to explaining Antonio's presence, whether the plan is to start him and pull him out of the fray early in the 2nd half, or if he is being earmarked s a super sub is a matter of conjecture.

Although he 'cocked up' the Noble penalty decision, Moyes generally gets things right considering the resources he has available to him, he takes advice from his medical team and staff before making selection decisions. There are two schools of thought regarding the fixture and playing Antonio, one is that he needs to at least have a run out to avoid 'burn down' ahead of the Leeds fixture, those hamstrings are high maintenance you know! If worked too hard too often they give up, paradoxically if they are not worked regularly enough, they tighten up risking injury.

We have a Poll running as to the team that should be put out, even IF Moyes does play Antonio for some part of the game he HAS to rest other key 1st team players, particularly Tomas Soucek, Declan Rice, Aaron Cresswell and Pablo Fornals, he will probably rest Vlad the impaler and Jarrod Bowen as well.

A team devoid of those players would be very hard pushed to get a result at Old Trafford, so what would be the point in playing Antonio other than to give him a 'bit of a run out'? It seems like a massive gamble to take, the very fact that there are such huge stakes resting on Antonio's fitness and availability for games firmly compounds the folly of NOT signing a back up striker during an otherwise successful transfer window, it's a decision that could possibly haunt Hammers up to January and beyond if the club doesn't manage to reinforce during the impending window.

Tomorrow's a dead rubber, apologies for the defeatism but pragmatism has to be the order of the day, it is honourable that Moyes wants to send a team out that won't embarrass the many fans who will travel up for the tie as well as the thousands who will watch on TV. The bigger picture is more important for now however, but one day the time will come when the club can really take on the 'mighty' clubs, that is of course assuming the board don't blot their copybook with their manager. LN