Michail Antonio Laughs Off 'Dildo Brothers' Jab & Admits West Ham's New Signings Need Time to Gel

Michail Antonio has laughed off comments made by Sporting CP's president calling West Ham owners 'the dildo brothers', claiming that he tries to ignore media talk whenever possible. 

The Hammers forward admitted that small mistakes have cost the team in vital moments this season, with the club currently sitting dead last in the league below even goalless and pointless Crystal Palace. 

Antonio, speaking to 90min at the NFL kickoff party in London, looked ahead to Monday night's game against Huddersfield - saying: "It's just taking a bit of time for everyone to gel. But we believe we've got the ability to move on, get better, and go and get three points tomorrow.

"It's one of those things where they've come from the Championship and they've got the ball rolling on that high of getting promoted...so we'll just have to knock them down a peg!"

The versatile 27-year-old insisted that the whole team remains firmly behind manager Slaven Bilic, saying that the players have made errors at crucial moments in the first three games of the season and been punished clinically. 

"Everyone's behind him," he insisted. "It's just one of those things where it's a bad start, it's not down to the manager or the players. We've made a couple of errors in the games and been punished and just not been able to come back from it, so hopefully tomorrow there'll be no small errors and we can show the skill and ability we have."

Asked about Bruno de Carvalho's 'dildo brothers' comment, Antonio laughed and admitted: "To be honest, I don't pay much attention to it. I don't pay notice to what's happened - I didn't even watch the transfer window, I just concentrate on myself and the boys at the training ground."

After Premier League clubs voted to shorten the transfer window, ending it before the start of the season, Antonio will have less time to ignore the goings-on on Sky Sports News - but admitted to some reservations about the move. 

"I'm not too sure about that, you know," he admitted. "Sometimes when clubs are trying to get players in...for me, the better the players that come in, the better it is for the club. Sometimes you can run out of time and if you do it to the beginning of the season, there might just not be enough time. 

Especially next season with the World Cup and the people who are paying attention to that and players who are going to be at the World Cup who you're trying to sign...so it's going to be difficult."

Quizzed on where he was planning to watch the summer's showpiece tournament - from his couch or from Russia - he laughed: "I hope from Russia, and not watching, playing!"

Michail Antonio was speaking at an exclusive NFL kickoff party at Banking Hall in London to celebrate the start of the 2017/18 NFL season. This year, London plays host to four regular season games at Twickenham and Wembley Stadium across September and October.