OPINION
You can understand why Manuel Pellagrini might have been reluctant to start Marko Arnautovic against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
After securing a battling 1-1 draw against Liverpool on Monday night, the temptation must have been to keep things the same against the Eagles on Saturday afternoon.
Initially, it looked to be a prudent plan as the Hammers raced into a 1-0 lead, but in the second half they reverted back to their usual Jekyll and Hyde selves and were lucky to come away from Selhurst Park with a point.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course, but looking back on the performance, the Chilean must be wondering how wise it was to leave Arnautovic on the bench until the 68th minute.
After suffering a foot injury in the 3-0 defeat to Wolves, this was the Austrian’s first real chance to be properly reintroduced into Pellegrini’s plans, and instead of taking the opportunity, the manager forced his star man to sit and stew on the bench.
Given that the 29-year-old made his intention to leave patently clear in January before signing a new contract, you would assume that keeping him sweet by offering him a start on Saturday might have been a good plan.
Obviously Pellegrini can’t just pander to the forwards whims constantly, but when he offers so much to the side in an attacking sense, and when the Irons have endured such a malaise without him, surely it would have been a good idea to give him a substantial run out.
Pellegrini pulled off a major blunder against the Eagles and he simply cannot let it happen too often.