David Moyes says Michail Antonio failed to hit the level West Ham expect of him in defeat at Tottenham.
The Hammers forward - Moyes’s only senior striker - was hooked before the hour mark having let two fine chances pass by.
Antonio rolled Eric Dier well in the first half before firing wide and blazed over from Aaron Cresswell’s cross with his final touch before being removed.
Having played almost 120 minutes against Sevilla on Thursday, many expected Moyes to be protecting the 31-year-old given his poor injury record, but the Scot said the change was down to his performance.
“I didn’t think he reached his levels,” Moyes said. “We need Michail to play at a really high level.
“If you look at the level of the Tottenham front players, it was unbelievable. Such a high level.
“We had a lot of the ball, I watched them here against Everton and it was very similar.
“I don’t know if he is struggling with confidence.
“I think if you’re a No9 at any football club if you don’t score goals then you’ll feel it with your confidence. You need the goals and he had a couple of really good opportunities.
“I think if you’ve got really good quality attacking players you’d cause Tottenham problems.”
Said Benrahma scored his first goal since December 28, having bagged two assists in the last Premier League game against Aston Villa.
“Said is actually coming back to life a little bit,” said Moyes.
“He’s just beginning to start to show better signs again and the goal will help him.”
