We all know that this likely won’t go down well seeing as the way the man we’re going to be talking about left West Ham over the summer, but it’s something we cannot deny. The current struggles that the Irons face have come about because of the fact that Marko Arnautovic was allowed to leave.
The Austrian forward was one of the most entertaining players to watch outside of the Premier League’s top six last season and he turned himself into a genuine goal threat and talisman at West Ham, despite being nothing more than a winger with an eye for goal when he signed for the Irons from Stoke City.
However, his transformation aside, when Arnie left the club over the summer he left on bad terms, with his farewell message being a very frosty one on the West Ham website, although it signalled the start of the club’s current strugglers.
The Hammers have become extremely beatable and look like a side that are easily rolled over in the Premier League. They lack someone who can rile up a fan base in the way that Arnautovic did, and that’s before we even get onto talking about his goals.
Sebastien Haller was brought in for £45m to replace the departing Austrian (BBC), but he just hasn’t clicked yet, despite the fact he’s almost been at the club six months and has had ample time to impress and score goals.
As it’s happened, though, Haller just hasn’t cut it. The arguments are there that he hasn’t the service and we can agree with that. Writing off Haller isn’t what we want to do, but he needs to show more than what he’s currently doing, and the numbers show what Arnautovuc was doing that Haller isn’t.
Looking at WhoScored and using the player comparison tool it shows that Arnie last season is coming out on top over Haller in the current campaign when looking at shots, key passes and dribbles per game, and these are some of the key areas that a forward should be excelling.
Would you take Marko Arnautovic over Sebastien Haller?
Yes
No
If we can come back to this article at the end of the season and proven to be wrong with Haller smashing the 2019/20 season in the New Year then we’ll be delighted, but for now it has to be said that Arnautovic’s absence is hurting the Hammers, and his sale has sparked their current poor form.
