OPINION
All West Ham fans are surely pointing their finger at attacker Marko Arnautovic after ex-Hammers player Geoff Pike suggested there may be individuals disrupting the dressing room.
The 62-year-old, who played 291 times for the Hammers, revealed that the U-23s seem to have a great team mentality but wasn’t convinced the same could be said about the senior squad.
Pike then suggested that he wondered if they lacked the same cohesion due to there being certain individuals upsetting the apple cart.
“I was atthe club a few weeks back, working with one of the guys that are doing their pro license at the moment, a lad name Liam Manning,” said Pike on LoveSPORT Radio, as heard in a clip on the broadcaster’s Twitter account.
“His assistant to Steve Potts with the U-23s and you see the stuff that is going on at that level and you would suggest that there is that team cohesion, that team mentality, the lads are all working and singing from the same hymn sheet.
“But once they get to first-team level, I’m not sure it continues over, is it based on the fact there are certain individuals upsetting the apple cart?”
With the Hammers submitted some disappointing performances as late, everyone is going to have a theory behind what is causing them to struggle.
When you consider Manuel Pellegrini’s squad contains several talented players then the suggestion that they’re struggling to gel together as a team does hold some water.
Yet Pike’s suggestion that there are certain individuals causing problems behind-the scenes will only be met with the Hammers fan base jumping the gun and naming Arnautovic as one of the potential troublemakers.
This is for a few reasons.
Firstly the forward’s agent made it known in January, in an interview with talkSPORT, that his client wanted a move, before the player made a U-turn and signed a new deal instead, so clearly that would have caused a stir among his teammates.
Secondly Arnautovic hasn’t just struggled to impress fans since January due to submitting poor performances but his body language has been all wrong.
In fact in recent games the 29-year-old doesn’t look like he has given his all for the club and has looked like he is on the brink of sulking if not in the middle of having a tantrum.
Finally you feel Hammers fans will look to Arnautovic after this suggestion as given his stature at the club, he’s worn the armband before, clearly he is able to influence his teammates.
With all this in mind, while Pike perhaps didn’t mean to, his comments are only going to see people believe Arnautovic is a problem.
