Slaven Bilic staked his reputation on signing Marko Arnautovic in the summer and he wants to see some payback.
It was a rare departure for the Hammers boss when he chose to publicly lambast Arnautovic over the course of several weeks after his reckless sending off in the 3-2 defeat to Southampton back in August.
Bilic was clearly seething with the Austrian international, so much so he was still banging the table with clenched fists when it was brought up in a press conference nearly a month on.
Arnautovic was disappointing on his return to the side against West Bromwich Albion.
That prompted another public warning from Bilic over his expectations for West Ham’s record £25million signing.
The Croatian has referenced the fact Arnautovic is ‘old Yugoslavian like me’ with a nod to the attacker’s heritage – his dad is Serbian.
Perhaps that – and the rather predictable sending off – is why the manager feels he must use more public channels to try and get the best out of the man he has effectively brought in to finally replace Dimitri Payet.
Because despite Arnautovic orchestrating the 3-0 Carabao Cup win over Bolton in midweek, Bilic still wasn’t happy.
“I could have asked for more,” Bilic said, as reported by Sky Sports.
“I want him to do more. He’s got that quality and that something extra.
“I like him as a player, but sometimes he gets happy with the few things that he does when I want him to push the borders. After what happened last month, this is the beginning of the comeback for him.”
The message was clear to all including Arnautovic: ‘Start performing consistently and prove your worth because I have put my reputation on the line to sign you’.
Against bitter rivals Spurs would be a fine time to start tomorrow lunchtime.
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