Marko Arnautovic… love him or hate him, you can’t deny the stupidity and arrogance this man poses.
West Ham fans found this out the hard way in their game against Southampton at St. Mary’s. Already trailing the game by an early goal from Manolo Gabbiadini and the perhaps debatable and possible sending off from captain Mark Noble it looked as if the game couldn’t get any worse. Marko Arnautovic is known for picking up bookings and putting in a rash challenge after his time with Stoke City, however, nothing could prepare the fans, team and even manager for what would happen 33 minutes into the game. After a few rash and late challenges on the Austrian, it was clear that he was losing his cool. After the ball was played back to Southampton defender Jack Stephens it was clear that Arnautovic’s anger was getting more evident as he surged into the back of the player with his elbow held high and hit the young Southampton defender in his neck.
Referee Lee Mason was quick to pull out his red card to no surprise of any Southampton or West Ham player. However, a few West Ham players and Arnautovic himself complained due to new Southampton signing Mario Lemina just three minutes before not being penalised for a clear elbow into the Austrian’s head. The Austrian was reluctant to leave the field even going so far as trying to argue his case of what he had done wrong.
Instead of walking off the field and taking the punishment given to him, the Austrian’s anger got the better of him as he decided to kick a bag full of footballs before being forced down the tunnel by security. Which could even further the punishment given to him in which he will miss the game on Tuesday against Cheltenham and two Premier League games against Newcastle and Huddersfield.
Marko Arnautovic was however very quick to apologise to the fans and the team on his Instagram story after the game, which is a good act by the player, whether he did this because he wanted to or whether the club told him to do this isn’t evident.
My view on the whole situation is that he was stupid and lost his temper and cost the team the three points. If he hadn’t made this mistake it would have meant that we would’ve had more attacking players on the field and would have been able to make more chances rather than forcing Hernandez to play out wide to cover his position. However, it was a class act on him accepting that he had made a mistake and he is genuinely sorry for what had happened.
Arnautovic needs to try and ignore defenders that try to wind him up because they know if they can get into his head then he will be liable to make a mistake and get a yellow card and even worse a sending off. Instead of getting wound out by the defenders he should use the anger to play better to prove to them why he is West Ham’s record signing.