Marko Arnautovic had a poor start to life at West Ham under Bilic. David Moyes has found a way to harness the best of him.
There are always going to be frustrating players in football, especially at West Ham. The players who have the talent but can’t seem to produce consistently. After a few performances, it looked like Marko Arnautovic was set to be another. But under Moyes he has really kicked on.
If you watched Arnautovic at Stoke your opinion on him would differ according to which match you watched. Sometimes he was lazy, arrogant and a poor team player. Other times you wondered why he wasn’t at one of the big teams. Hopefully we can start to see more of the latter.
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The Arnautovic Engima
Under Moyes, Arnautovic has been deployed mainly as a wide midfielder. Against Chelsea him and Antonio swapped between striker role and wide player, but they worked well. Arnautovic was substituted a little before the Englishman, but they ran themselves into the ground. And to top it off, the Austrian grabbed a well taken goal for his efforts.
He is a talented ball player, capable of going past players on both sides. However it is the workrate we have seen that has impressed the fans the most. His running after lost causes. His pressure on the defence to cause a misplaced pass. Even his selfless running in order to open up space elsewhere has improved. And I think Moyes is to thank for this.
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Arnautovic has always had talent. No-one has ever denied that. But different mangers have struggled to get the best out of him. He says he loves being at the club, and I believe him. It’s a more impressive club than Stoke, and more capable of delivering what he wants. But Moyes told him he needed to earn it. And it seems the Austrian is willing to earn it in East London.