Saturday 21 October 2017 10:03, UK
Gary Neville was critical of Marko Arnautovic after West Ham's heavy defeat to Brighton on Friday Night Football, saying the forward "is Cristiano Ronaldo in his own mind".
Brighton produced a superb display to beat struggling West Ham 3-0 at the London Stadium, with two goals from Glenn Murray and another by Jose Izquierdo.
Neville and fellow Sky Sports analyst Jamie Carragher dissected a "woeful" West Ham performance, reserving particular criticism for the Hammers' £24m club-record signing Arnautovic.
"I have only ever played with one player that had an excuse not to track back and that was Cristiano Ronaldo," Neville told Sky Sports. "He scored 40 goals in a season.
"That guy [Arnautovic] is Ronaldo in his own mind. That's the problem, he thinks he is better than he is.
"The part of the game I can't get my head around from a West Ham point of view is the first 20 minutes.
"When you think about the opportunity they had tonight - they had turned it around a little bit over the last few weeks - but they came out against Brighton and were not alert on set-pieces, they had no concentration or urgency. That's the period of the game that is unforgivable for me."
Carragher added: "That's the kind of performance that gets the manager sacked. I was very critical of Arnautovic during the game, he was a huge money signing.
"It can be difficult to settle and show your true form at a new club but that performance was not one you think was desperate to show everyone what he can do.
"He's walking about during the game, it was beyond belief, certainly in the first half. It was so poor and it heaps so much pressure on the manager."
The defeat leaves West Ham in 17th place having taken eight points from their opening nine games.
Large numbers of the home supporters left the ground after Murray's penalty made it 3-0 with 15 minutes to go and speaking to Sky Sports after the game Slaven Bilic took "full responsibility" for the display.
"Slaven was such a buoyant manager in his first season at the club, the pain he will be feeling now," Neville added. "That was woeful tonight from West Ham.
"I think back to Sunderland last year, the fans walking out of the ground. The QPR team from four or five years ago that was a disgrace.
"There aren't many times you can recall fans just walking out en masse and that's a real problem. That is what owners look at.
"I hope Slaven stays and [West Ham co-chairman] David Sullivan sticks to his word to keep him until the end of the season."
