ARNIE THE ASSASSIN
New blond Marko given licence to thrill
JUST when West Ham seemed to be sapped of energy and on the decline, Marko Arnautovic has breathed life into David Moyes’ side.
Not so much with his goals, though he has seven in his last 11 matches, but with his attitude.
For a player who faced accusations of not trying four months into his £25million move from Stoke in July, it is a quite magnificent transformation.
Against Watford, returning after three weeks out with a hamstring injury, he inspired his team-mates and got the London Stadium crowd on their feet.
Manager Moyes was reluctant to withdraw a man who should have been lacking match fitness until the game was as good as won, such is the energy Arnautovic brings to his team.
‘He faded a bit when some of the others looked a bit tired after 60 minutes,’ Moyes said. ‘But Marko kept on going.
‘The reason we don’t remove him is because you think he is dead and then he can go again. You think, “Is he finished, has he run his race?”, then he goes again.’
Arnautovic, sporting his new bleachblond hairstyle, went on to score West Ham’s second goal 12 minutes from time with a delightful first touch to set himself up for a tap-in in the area. The Austrian, 28, roared away in celebration — not the first time he had been open-mouthed. He also spent some of the first half barracking team-mates, asking for support as he ploughed a lone furrow in attack.
‘He’s a character, which I think is good in football. You need those sorts of people,’ said defender James Collins.
‘He’s a good lad. He loves his football, he’s quite quirky but if he performs like that he can do what he wants.’
Collins rates the new Arnautovic hair-cut as ‘more like ginger or rose gold’, but added: ‘If he keeps performing like that he can come in in a Batman outfit if he likes and I wouldn’t care.’
West Ham were, by their own admission, awful at Brighton last week. They had not won in three weeks without Arnautovic — in fact they have not won when he has been out of the side since September.
Without a game until a trip to Liverpool on February 24, West Ham’s squad will not get much downtime and instead are expected back in training immediately for two weeks of ‘hard work’.
‘We’ve not got anything yet,’ Moyes said. ‘We’ve got 30 points today, the next thing is to get to 40 as quickly as we can. They’ll get a couple of days off but I’d rather be in the FA Cup next Saturday.’
It is an attitude of valuing hard graft that tends to be appreciated. Moyes too could benefit. Before Saturday’s win, which also saw Javier Hernandez score the opener, he received the backing of co- owner David Sullivan who spoke of him staying in east London for years.
Sullivan is promising changes this summer, notably on recruitment, and Moyes sees himself building West Ham up as he did in 11 years at Everton. ‘I’m ambitious, I want to be challenging against the big boys,’ he said. ‘It took me years to build Everton up. I’m happy to do that again.’