Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini has defended Marko Arnautovic claiming he was not guilty of the defeat by Everton.
However, from his explanation of the booing the striker received when subbed, the manager seems to have missed the point which goes back to January.
There is an obvious bias growing up against the Austrian who may have made matters worse by showing, anger, frustration and deciding to argue with a fan or fans after his substitution.
The boss – in discussing the booing declared: “The fans boo when they are not happy with the performance of the team.
“This case it was Marko as the two changes were at half-time so they couldn’t do it.
“I think we cannot believe the performance was one player as the team played the way they did today. Marko Arnautovic was not guilty why we lose the game.”
All well and good but Hammers fans can be pretty unforgiving when they feel let down by the personal behaviour of a player as witnessed by Ravel Morrison and Dimitri Payet.
They are not a fan base to mess with and will send you from hero to zero in a heartbeat – this is what has happened to Arnautovic and it’s difficult to see a way back for the bloke.
I believe this is his last season although his problem may well be that clubs tend to fight shy players who bring as much baggage as Mr Arnautovic.
It’s disgraceful to boo your team. These are probably the same “fans” that left at the 65th minute in the previous home game when we were 3-1 down to Huddersfield .
I said a while back that this Toxic man will haunt us for the rest of the season, and I cannot change my mind on that irrelevant what Pele might think. 35 mill was an incredible offer for a player that struts around like Eric Cantona but in reality is a pretty average player at best. Before the comments , please check this guys stats in the premier league.
The whole team were responsible for a poor performance, not just one player. Having said that I don’t agree with booing your team either, or walking out on your team, but we seem to see plenty of it these days from the modern West Ham fan.
the booing was not aimed at Arnie from where we was sitting, its was the substitution its self by the manager. Why take your main striker off when 2-0 down at home? the manager had a shocker as well by starting perez and pedro two players who wont be here next season. Bad day at the office.
My own view has always been that I don’t boo anybody in a West Ham shirt & I don’t leave early, but every fan has a right to support the club in his own way. But my view is that some-not all- fans have over reacted to what went on in January & that reaction has not helped to get the best from last season’s star player. I wondered then if we might only get one good season out of him, & that might have been the case even without some fans turning against him. But all I am saying is that a club in our position has to try to get the best out of the few quality players we get. If you don’t want to help to do that don’t whinge afterwards about the consequences.
It is worth remembering Nobes comments early on in the season and his explanation when he let Arnie take a penalty against Bournemouth early on. Arnie performances last year stemmed from him being the main man. His ego demands it. In part that personality will always believe he is the best but for us to see his best (and in his day there is no doubt a game changer for us) we need to feed that through support for him. We are punishing ourselves by booing him as his performances show that without love from the fans he just gets moody and is half the player. I am not saying that a man on such wages should need adoration to perform but in this case I believe it to be true.