WEST HAM CHELSEA TERMINATOR
Arnie: Hammers dressing-room ruck stopped the rot
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MARKO ARNAUTOVIC has lifted the lid on the dressingroom bust-up that kick-started West Ham’s season.
The Hammers’ stand-in skipper described how Manuel Pellegrini’s players had it out with each other after their fourth defeat on the spin.
Newly-promoted Wolves left the London Stadium with a victory – and that sparked a no-holds-barred exchange which ended with an unexpected triumph at Goodison Park last week.
The striker has a tough-guy image – like fellow Austrian Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator actor. And Arnautovic outlined the dramatic scenes that changed the Hammers’ fortunes. He said: “The manager came into the dressing room after the game.
Heated
“He wasn’t happy. He was angry with our performance. We sat there and he kept talking. Then he went out to do interviews.
“We had it out among ourselves. What had to be said was said. It was good – it was heated in there. I was the captain, so yes, I was involved.
“There were voices raised. You can’t keep losing and say nothing.
“Everybody had to understand we are a club with a big history and tradition – and that we can’t be where we are in the table.
“We needed to be hard on ourselves. We have to give everything on the pitch – and we did that at Everton.”
It was at home to Chelsea last season that Arnautovic got his own campaign up and running, scoring the winner after David Moyes asked him to spearhead the Hammers’ attack. He MAURIZIO SARRI admits he will have to rest stars like Eden Hazard more as the Europa League goes on.
In an ideal world, the former Napoli boss would like to see teams who play in Europe on Thursday night have their next league games pushed back to the following Monday – as happens in Italy.
But with that not an option, Sarri is likely to really start ringing the changes and leaving more of his main men out as the season progresses.
He named a strong side for Chelsea’s opening 1-0 Europa added: “This club is capable of more. We don’t want to be where we still are right now. We are not a club that wants to be fighting relegation.
“I always thought in those years I played for Stoke that playing against West Ham was always a difficult game.
“This year there was even more excitement, because we spent even more money and even more players came in. Hopefully the win against Everton will give us confidence.
“But Chelsea are on fire at the moment – it will be difficult.”
Arnautovic arrived in the Premier League with plenty of baggage. He still has his moments – he was dismissed in only his second game for the Londoners – but insists he has turned a corner.
Asked how he has changed, he joked, ‘I’m more beautiful than I was... look, I’ve grown up a lot. I’ve two daughters and need to be responsible. When I arrived, everyone was saying, ‘Uh-oh, the new Balotelli is here’.
“That’s not right. I’m different. I said to myself, ‘You can’t carry on like that because one day your daughter will read everything and think her dad was a crazy man’.
Emotions
“Being a father has changed me. It’s brought something to my game. But sometimes there are emotions in my head and I can’t control them – although I have this a lot less now.
“Obviously people expected more because I came here for a lot of money. I needed to do the special things.
“Scoring goals, making assists. If you do that, people don’t mind. If it’s not going well you need to do everything.” One thing he will not be doing under Pellegrini (right), however, is repeating the antics that cost him a caution the last time he found the net against Chelsea.
He said: “If the West Ham fans could jump on the pitch, I know they would celebrate with us.
“If I could be, I’d be in the stands with them.
“I did that last year against Chelsea and got a yellow card. I forgot it was a booking offence.
“I don’t care for the referee or anyone else. I just want to jump in among the fans and if I am punched during the celebrations, I get punched.
“I might get knocked out – but I know if someone catches me that it’s just joy.”