OPINION
West Ham fans must be crowing after Alan Shearer heaped praise on Marko Arnautovic for leading the line in the game against Everton with authority as it’s an underrated aspect of the attacker’s game.
The BBC pundit waxed lyrical about the 29-year-old attacker’s display against the Toffees on Sunday and even named him in his Team of the Week.
“A real centre-forward’s performance,” wrote Shearer for the official Premier League website.
“He scored a very good goal and provided an assist when his team needed it most. Led the line with such authority.”
Arnautovic who stands at 6ft 3in tall (Source: Transfermarkt) was sensational against the Toffees during his 3-1 victory over them at Goodison Park and Hammers supporters wouldn’t have been surprised by his performance.
However they would have been relieved that Arnautovic, who has captained the side when Mark Noble hasn’t featured this season, showcased the best of his leadership qualities by the way he took Sunday’s match by the scruff of the neck and led by example.
Hammers supporters will now see the attacker as having no standout weakness as they would have had doubts about him leading the side previously, after the way his head seem to drop during the 1-0 defeat to Wolves.
Being a good leader is an underrated aspect of any player’s game as generally fans and pundits are more concerned with their ability on the ball rather than their strength to effect the game off it.
However after the Hammers slumped to four defeats in the league on the bounce ahead of their first win on Sunday, the London club looked worryingly short of leaders.
Yet after reading Shearer’s praise of Arnautovic, Hammers fans must be crowing as it clear they do have least one ready-made leader at the London Stadium, aside from Noble who shouldn’t feature regularly, as it means a good campaign could be afoot.
While supporters will always have a place in their hearts for their current forward, due to his talent and performances last season, they will be gloating about their club owning him even more due to him having leadership qualities that are hard to find.
Therefore Hammers fans must be smug that a pundit with such a good reputation as Shearer has heaped praise on such an undderated and unappreciated aspect of Arnuatovic’s game.
