West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has explained why he decided to bring on Michail Antonio rather than Lucas Perez against Everton on Sunday.
Summer signing Perez looked poised to enter the fray at Goodison Park but was passed over for Antonio, with the striker appearing visibly irritated afterwards.
And Pellegrini has revealed why he brought on the Englishman: “When Marko was injured, I called Lucas because he was doing a warm-up, and when I saw he was sat on the bench and Antonio was working and ready, that’s why I brought him on instead, rather than waiting for Lucas to warm up again,” he told Sky Sports.
“Antonio was ready, and Lucas had to warm up a little bit more.”
Perez was seen in what looked like a heated conversation with goalkeeping coach Xavi Valero after the incident.
OPINION
This was an incident that probably looked more important than it actually was. Obviously there was a bit of miscommunication between Perez and Pellegrini as to the timing of the substitution or Perez’s role in it, and the Spaniard ended up missing out as a result. It shows that the change wasn’t a particularly detailed one tactically, as Pellegrini was able to simply swap out Perez for Antonio in his calculations. It didn’t really have any impact on the game, but the former Arsenal man will make sure to carry on warming up right until the moment he comes on next time. Perez hasn’t really been given much of a shot at West Ham just yet, so it would’ve been interesting to see what he could have done against a tiring Everton backline on Sunday. However, it wasn’t to be. Perez will be hoping he gets the chance to make up for this snub in upcoming games.
