THE NEW ARNIE NEW DI IS THE CANIO
West Ham have fallen in love with Marko . . . just don’t tell Mark Hughes
FOR much of Marko Arnautovic’s first game back at Stoke, his pantomimevillain role seemed set to end in personal frustration.
Now a West Ham player, the Austrian tried and tried but he could not find a way to silence the hecklers with a goal.
As more jeers greeted his fifth unsuccessful effort, he decided to respond with the crossed-arms Irons sign, much to the irritation of Ryan Shawcross and Mark Hughes.
Then, 15 minutes from time, he produced a more meaningful answer, combining quite beautifully with Manuel Lanzini to put the contest beyond his former club and give cause to revel amid the vitriol.
There is too often a gap between what Arnautovic thinks of himself and the reality, but here was a performance to signal he can be a Premier League player of significance.
The really good forwards keep going even when it appears not to be their day and while Arnautovic has, in the past, been accused of downing tools too easily, on this occasion he wrestled the narrative of the contest on to his terms in impressive fashion.
He had seen five good chances come and go through a variety of bad finishing, good goalkeeping, and last-ditch defending, before sensing a one-two with Lanzini on the edge of the Stoke box. The Argentine’s chip back was exquisite and Arnautovic finally beat Jack Butland with a smart shot.
Coming after his excellent winning goal against Chelsea the previous Saturday, this was another moment to justify the £24million fee that had not previously fitted well.
His job done, manager David Moyes withdrew the player, who then exchanged words with Shawcross and was also on the receiving end from Hughes. A Stoke scarf was chucked his way from the stands by the dug-outs as he refused to go quietly and it was left to coach Stuart Pearce to suggest he might be better served heading down the tunnel. Arnautovic soaked up the venom and adulation in equal measure as he strode between home and away fans before bowing out. The bravado on and off the pitch brought to mind Paolo Di Canio. Moyes did not reject the comparison. ‘He is that type of player if you get him in form,’ said the West Ham manager. ‘He is getting goals and showing the ability he has. He has something about him. And the fans love that type of character.’ When he was appointed last month, Moyes had questioned Arnautovic’s application, but that is now coming through. In 79 minutes against Stoke, the player ran 9.8km, the same distance in 11 minutes’ less action as in the opening-day defeat at Manchester United. In the midweek draw with Arsenal he covered 10.8km in his only other full league game this season. In a corridor of the bet365 Stadium, Moyes explained the improvement: ‘We were previously a little bit disappointed with him, but simply we said, “You’d better run around and if you don’t, you won’t play”. He actually said, “OK, I’ll do that”.
‘Most of the people round here know he’s a good technician, so if we can marry those two things we will have a good player.’
His former manager, though, was less complimentary. ‘I said to him about his reaction to our crowd,’ Hughes said. ‘There was a little bit of baiting. Did he not expect that? He should have risen above any abuse. This place was very, very good for him. So to burn all your bridges after one game, I thought, “You don’t need to do it”.
‘He was doing all sorts at the end. He did well to get back to the dressing room safely.’
Hughes has larger concerns, of course, as a fifth defeat in six matches plunged Stoke deep into relegation trouble and prompted angry scenes in the stands. Chants of ‘Hughes out’ were audible and Stoke fans even joined in with West Ham cries of ‘Sacked in the morning’.
Stoke chairman Peter Coates wants to keep faith in the manager who secured three consecutive ninth-place finishes but Saturday’s visit by West Bromwich is hugely important. ‘They were frustrated and a little bit anxious,’ said Hughes of Stoke’s fans. ‘That’s the nature of the game. Where we see ourselves at the moment is more the concern than any reaction from the crowd.’
The players kept trying but became defensively frayed, meaning Mark Noble’s first-half penalty, won in dubious style by Lanzini, was compounded by a late Diafra Sakho strike. ‘It is energy that is used up in the wrong way sometimes,’ said Hughes.