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Marko Arnautovic praised for heroics against Huddersfield, but David Moyes still demands more
Amid the praise for West Ham United’s match-winner, Marko Arnautovic, his manager, David Moyes, stressed his delight but also demanded more of the same over the coming weeks.
The Austrian’s physical and technical capabilities have rarely been in doubt, but fans have questioned his attitude and application since becoming West Ham’s £25 million record signing last summer.
In recent weeks that sentiment has started to dissipate, with Moyes deploying the 28-year-old as a centre-forward to ensure he no longer strays onto the periphery.
Another coruscating display on Saturday inspired his side to a comfortable 4-1 win at Huddersfield Town. Pressing Joe Lolley into the mistake that gifted Mark Noble the opener, Arnautovic then took the game away from the hosts after they had equalised through Lolley.
Following a sixth goal in seven league outings, he twice punctured the home defence to lay on two goals for Manuel Lanzini. It lifted Moyes’s team to 11th position, five points clear of the relegation places and a point and three positions above Town. Yet the Scot, who conceded his squad will need reinforcement this month, has warned he will not allow Arnautovic to rest on his laurels.
“Where the questions were – that he wasn’t running about, he wasn’t putting in the effort – well that would be the last thing you’d say about him now,” Moyes said.
“What we won’t allow him to do now is drop back to where he was. Everyone knows he looks a sort of moody, heady boy but I’ve found him really good and also very funny, but we’re keeping him on a short leash.
“He missed Tottenham with an injury and didn’t play against Shrewsbury, so we were getting him back fresh, but I am still working to get him through 90 minutes at that level and that speed.
“He’s doing maybe 70 minutes and we’re saying, ‘no, we want more from you’. Maybe I can’t get all that into him yet, but he has given us a great level of speed and energy in the early parts of games.
“What we’ve given him is the chance to prove to West Ham supporters ‘I can run, I will run and I’m not maybe what you think and I will prove I am a really good player and worth every penny the club have paid for me’.”
Worryingly for Huddersfield it is almost a month and five fixtures since they last picked up three points. During their last top-flight season in 1971-72, the club failed to win a match after Christmas, collecting just six points from their final 15 matches to be relegated.
While history repeating itself on that scale looks improbable, David Wanger, their head coach, admitted frustrations at a failure to react to dangerous situations early enough.
“This is what cost them and us,” Wagner said. “We’ve played 23 games. So usually, it should be enough time for everybody to learn their lesson. But even if we say it should be enough time, we’ve done it again. What counts is how we work with it and how we react.”