Paul Merson tore West Ham attacker Marko Arnautovic apart and claimed that the 29-year-old doesn’t look like he wants to be at the club based on his body language.
The Sky Sports pundit shared that he thought the Hammers forward had been terrible for the past three months and pointed out he thought that the player’s form had been a factor behind the London’s club recent run of poor performances.
Merson said Arnautovic couldn’t simply be putting in bad displays down to a lack of form, implying it must be more than that, as he would have had at least impressed a few times recently.
“I think only Marko can answer that, I don’t think even the manager can answer that,” said Merson on Soccer Saturday (Sky Sports News, Saturday April 6th, 13:43).
“From the outside, from me sitting on the outside, it doesn’t look like he wants to be there, his performances now compared to what they were at the start of the season, are chalk and cheese, literally chalk and cheese.
“He was up there with the best at the start of the season, first-half of season, he could have played anywhere, you could have said, you can take him, they can take him and he’d get a game with them and make a difference, but the last three months or so? Nah.
“It can’t be a lack of form, your form does dip, but you’d still have them peaks where one week you’d be brilliant and in two weeks you’d be bad, but he hasn’t hit anywhere near half of that, half of that and that’s what’s been the problem.
“He carried that team at the start of the season and he was the main man, he was the one who made things happen, and he dragged them through games but that’s gone…they should be a dangerous animal and they’re not, they look like they’ve got their flip flops on.”
OPINION
Merson clearly has abandoned his post as a member of Arnautovic’s fan club as his verdict is rather harsh. The Sky pundit is not allowing the forward to simply explain his struggles away on the pitch by citing bad form as he argues that he would have clearly shown glimpses of his talent. This is quite damning of Arnautovic in many ways as Merson clearly is implying the player’s attitude is stopping him performing to his ability. Yet at the end of day, whatever the reason, Manuel Pellegrini has to find a way to fix the attacker’s form. Merson is spot-on to say that Arnautovic partly carried the Hammers earlier in the season as you could depend on him to score, and they need a goal source leading the way once again. Without the 29-year-old in top-form, you can’t help but noticed how the Hammers lack any other clinical forwards to choose from. Javier Hernandez may get a goal or two, but he’s hardly a consistent source of goals for the London club.
