Thursday 25 August 2016 21:28, UK
West Ham winger Michail Antonio says the start of the new season has been a learning curve and discusses life at the London Stadium.
The winger had been deployed in the right-back position by manager Slaven Bilic for the Premier League season opener at Stamford Bridge, and he conceded a penalty with his foul on Cesar Azpilicueta.
But Antonio has credited the fans with giving him the confidence to return to his regular position on the flanks and says he is learning lessons from his time in defence.
"With me giving away a penalty, it's one of those things where I always give 100% and I hate making silly mistakes, especially like that. It's a learning curve and I have to move on from it. I've now learnt that in certain situations, I should do something different," the West Ham man told Sky Sports.
"I'm a person who's quite professional and I believe I'll do anything I can to help the team. Last season when we lost one of our right backs, I had to step in.
"I did quite well there and the gaffer asked me to step in again this year and I believe I can do a job. Because it's the beginning of the season, I'm still going to be learning and because I'm originally an attacking player, it's trying to iron out those little mistakes but now I've been able to get back on the wing and get another go.
"The fans have been outstanding. Every time something like that has happened, the fans have been on my Twitter saying 'we've got your back'.
"They're the reason I have kept my confidence and why I could go out there against Bournemouth and get the winner."
Indeed, Bilic moved Antonio back to his natural attacking position for the clash with the Cherries and rewarded his faith with the winner in their first top flight game in their new home.
The winger was quick to praise the handling of the position change by his manager, but did reiterate his desire to keep a position in the Hammers attack rather than defence.
"Obviously he is the manager and he makes the decisions. I'm a professional player so I'm going to go out there and give 100% no matter what position it is in," Antonio added.
"He always comes to me, he always speaks to me and he always tells me the reason behind why he does stuff so he shows me the respect to do that so I show respect to him for doing that with me.
"Against Bournemouth, I managed to go out there in my normal position and play how I normally play and get the goal. Our first goal in the Premier League at the London Stadium as well which felt amazing. It is my natural position and where I always feel I want to play so hopefully I can play there more."
The Hammers are getting used to life at the London Stadium after their summer move from the Boleyn Ground, and Antonio feels like the new ground can push West Ham into the Premier League elite.
"Because it's a new stadium, it's as fresh for us as it is for the other teams coming here but we've had a few games there now and we can keep building on it.
"At the Boleyn Ground, when the crowd were singing, sometimes it just goes up into the sky but with the arches in the London Stadium, it kind of brings it into the pitch and when I scored, the roar from the fans was deafening.
"It shows that we're not looking to dwell on what we've done in the past. We're trying to turn into a big club and one of the big boys. We are a massive club so far but it's just to get on, build and be able to push on and see how far we can get in the league."
Next up for West Ham is Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, which will be shown live on Sky Sports this Sunday, and while Antonio admits the superstar manager has done well, he's confident the Hammers can get something from the game.
"They've shown their quality with Pep. He's definitely come in and stamped his ground quite early. Normally a manager takes his time but Pep is a quality manager so he doesn't need time," Antonio said.
"We're looking forward to the game. It looks like their whole structure and everything they have done is different. I've watched a couple of his games and he's changed formation with his full backs going into midfield and stuff like that so it's definitely going to be exciting.
"What he's done is quality so it's going to be a difficult game but we'll always believe in ourselves and always be confident that we're going to go there and accept nothing less than a point."
