I thoroughly enjoyed sitting through the complete rerun of Stoke City's 6-1 demolition of Liverpool from 2015 the other day.

How could any Stoke fan not enjoy reliving the sights and sounds of that day? The final game of the season, a packed stadium, a match that meant so much to Liverpool and their fans, and for which many of their supporters had moved heaven and earth to get a ticket; then of course, an incredible, mesmerising and completely unforgettable Stoke City performance to round things off.  

If you ever want to look for a simple footballing answer to the question ‘What is the meaning of life?’ then maybe the answer is so that we can experience days like May 24, 2015?

That day marked one of the high watermark moments of the last 45 years of the history of our club. It was one of those games people will be talking about for another 50 years to come; a match where fans will be proud to say they were there.

It was up there with the 1970 5-0 destruction of Arsenal’s double-winning team, the League Cup Final, ending Leeds’ 29-game unbeaten run in 1974, playing in Europe and winning an FA Cup semi-final 5-0.

In amongst the avalanche of goals and stunning Stoke play the one thing I really took from that Liverpool game was the performance of Marko Arnautovic. He didn’t score any of the goals that day, and is perhaps overlooked because of that fact, but watch the match again and just watch what he does with the ball.

How he torments the Liverpool defence and is a constant source of menace to them. They were clearly afraid of him when he was in possession and when he wasn’t.

You’d think that such an accomplished display, from such an obviously talented player, would mark him down as a clear fan’s favourite up in the stands. And to be fair, you did often hear the chants of “Arnie, Arnie…” ringing around the ground.

However, and now I’m really getting into the theme of this week’s column, I was always surprised, and more than a little bit dismayed, at how many Stoke fans used to be on Arnautovic’s back.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was at the front of the queue to let him have it with both barrels when he came back to the bet365 Stadium with West Ham in our relegation season. He’d deserted us and he was public enemy number one.

For me though it was a case of hating him so much that day because I had loved him so much when he was in a Stoke City shirt.  I genuinely thought he was one of the best and most naturally gifted players I’d seen at Stoke for years and as evidence I’d point to the fact that our three straight 9th-place finishes in the Premier League came in his first three seasons at the club.

He was part of that team which destroyed Liverpool on that day and he was also at the heart of the Stoke sides which, the space of a few weeks beat Manchester City and Manchester United 2-0, and then won 4-3 at Everton.

When Marko Arnautovic played well Stoke City played well and if his contribution wasn’t always valued by some of our supporters you only have to ask some of the players what they thought of his efforts to realise how much they appreciated and relied on him.

So why did some of my fellow Stokies struggle to warm to a prodigiously talented player? One theory I’ve heard put forward is that some saw him as an intended replacement for Jon Walters, a clear fans' favourite, especially with those who’d never wanted TP to leave the club. I believe there’s a degree of merit to that argument but it’s far from the whole story.

The main reason, as far as I could work it out, is that some people had Arnie down as “lazy”.

I don’t believe that’s true, as he was a player who put a lot into his performances and you could see how passionate he was by the way he’d beat himself up when he either wasn’t playing well, or when something he tried didn’t come off.

He certainly wasn’t lazy though and you’d often find him back in his own area helping out.

Heck, what that Liverpool game again and you’ll see more than one occasion when that’s the case.

One thing he wouldn’t do though is waste energy on chasing lost causes. In that respect he was no Jon Walters or James McClean but it would still be idiotic to call him lazy. What he actually was, was a player who waited to spring into action and who conserved his energy and efforts for those moments when he could punish an opposing team - suddenly springing into action and leaving a man for dead, or undoing a carefully organised defence with a deft flick or a delightful nutmeg.

In that respect he was so much like Ricardo Fuller, an absolute magician of a player but one who was also often stuck with a tag of being lazy. It’s hard to believe but it’s a fact and I daresay many or even most of you will have heard somebody accusing both Fuller and Arnautovic of being “bone bloody idle” during their time in a Stoke City shirt.

It seems there are some Stoke fans who judge their players not on their skills but more on their ability to impersonate a Jack Russell who runs around chasing after a ball, nipping at the heels of anybody in possession, and seemingly able to do it without losing heart of energy. Fair enough, every team should have one of those characters in their side but it doesn’t mean we have to judge all of the squad against that criteria and nothing else.

Marko Arnautovic was a sublime player and I wish he was still wearing the colours of Stoke City.

He blew hot and cold for sure but then that’s the way with almost all flair players whose name isn’t either Pele, Messi or Ronaldo. It broke my heart when he left and it actually saddens me that he was prepared to throw away his career to go chasing the money in the Far East.

I’m happy to compare him alongside the likes of Ricardo Fuller and in some of my more distracted moments I imagine what a side we’d have had if the two of them had ever played in the same side, especially if we could have somehow got Ricardo into that forward line of Bojan, Marko and Xherdan. It’s almost frightening to think about isn’t it!

I know one thing for sure and it’s that we’ll really be in a good place and able to do great things again when we start putting teams onto the pitch which have players like Marko Arnautovic in them.