Sometimes, it can take a while for a club to find a player’s best position. Winston Reid, an iconic West Ham United centre-half, actually made his Premier League debut as a right-back.
And the less said about that, the better.
By his own admission, Winston Reid ‘still has nightmares’ about his top-flight bow back in 2010. A 3-0 defeat by Aston Villa in which he was given the runaround by a future West Ham United teammate in Stuart Downing.
Flash forward to October 2025. And if Monday’s 2-0 defeat by Brentford is anything to go by, Nuno Espirito Santo has a lot to learn about his current crop, and where they may be at their most comfortable.
Nuno admits that West Ham don’t know Mateus Fernandes’ best position.
Ollie Scarles, Kyle Walker-Peters, Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta toiled, meanwhile, in roles they would admit are not their favourite.
Unfortunately, footballers as versatile and adaptable as Michail Antonio do not come around too often.
Winston Reid was stunned by Michail Antonio’s West Ham United transformation
Antonio may be West Ham’s record all-time Premier League goalscorer, but it wasn’t until 2020 that he really started to establish himself as a formidable striker at the highest level.
Reid remembers playing alongside the Jamaica international during his early days as a rampaging right-back.
That infamous 3-2 victory over Manchester United in 2016 – their final ever outing at Upton Park – summed up the pros and the cons of starting Antonio on the right of a back four. The £7 million signing from Nottingham Forest would thump home the equaliser which laid the foundations for Reid’s iconic winner, but he was out of position for both Anthony Martial goals earlier in the piece.
“Mick just wanted to bomb on, which I can understand. He was a winger!,” Reid says. “But he just kept bombing on, and bombing on, and bombing on.
“[I would say to him], ‘Mick, can you just do me a favour and stay here for the next ten minutes?’.
“No one is going to run past him or out-muscle him. But he just had that urge to run [forwards and leave spaces at the back].”
A few seasons later, with Moyes using ‘Project Lockdown’ to consolidate Antonio’s transformation from buccaneering wideman to cannonball centre-forward, there was a point where the one-time Reading and Southampton man produced a staggering 33 goal contributions in just 43 Premier League starts.
Reid certainly didn’t see this coming when he was pleading with Antonio to ignore his attacking instincts and hold his shape at right-back.
“To be honest, Mick was probably the most improved player that I’ve seen, compared to when he came and when he left,” Reid admits. “He just got chucked everywhere.
“Initially, it was just raw strength. Strength, pace, a lot of attributes you have to have to play in the league. And I just think, the older he got, he got more refined in his skillset in and around the box.”
“Credit to him for playing in so many positions,” agrees James Collins, who played over 80 games at centre-half alongside Reid in claret and blue.
“He always gave it his all, to be fair, and always did a job.”
Antonio hopes for Premier League return despite Brentford snub
Even at the age of 35, and having not played a competitive minute in ten months following the car crash which left him with a broken leg, Antonio insists that he still has a lot left to offer for a club willing to take a chance on him.
Before beating the veteran’s old employers in East London, Keith Andrews confirmed that Brentford would not be signing Antonio after he was spotted at their training ground.
Back in August, though, he told talkSPORT that there were plenty of interested suitors, both inside and outside of the UK.
“I’m speaking to clubs to see where the best offer is for me to go, and we’ll just see how it goes,” Antonio said, albeit he is still looking for employment three months later.
“We’re talking to clubs here, we’re talking to clubs abroad. I’ve got something to prove to show that I can come back, I can come back and play well, which I was doing for the last ten years.
“Even before I did the car crash, I was starting for West Ham, so it shows that I’ve still got the ability about me and I can do it again.”
