Michail Antonio has given a scathing assessment of West Ham style of play this season, with much speculation that the forward could be set to depart the club.

There is no denying this campaign so far has been has been nothing short of a disaster, with the club languishing in the relegation zone at the midway point, despite forking out circa £180m on new signings including Brazil play maker Lucas Paqueta and Italy forward Gianluca Scamacca.

West Ham are most definitely a club struggling with wholesale changes across the board, but one item highlighted a key issue at present is the style of football being adopted by David Moyes, with his determination to make his side more possession based backfiring badly according to striker Antonio.

The Hammers number 9, who is gaining interest from other clubs this January with a move from the club looking likely, did not pull punches when talking on The Footballers Football Podcast when discussing the plan ut in place by Moyes – to add further to the notion that Antonio ultimately wants out of the club.

“We tried to change our philosophy,” stated Antonio. “You can see, this season, we haven’t played the same way we’ve been playing the last two years. We’ve changed it slightly. We’ve brought in players to play through the thirds.

“You can see over the last few games, we’ve conceded more goals on counter-attacks than we ever had in the last two years. We’re open way more, expansive. Teams are countering us the way we would have countered them before. It’s a transition. We’re trying to transition to become a bigger team and, I’ve got to be honest, it ain’t working.”

The comments will do nothing to dispel the consensus that Antonio is edging towards the exit door from West Ham, with many hoping the remarks will not leave a cloud over what has been a very important player for the club since his arrival in East London over 7 years ago.