It was a day of contrasts for Soungoutou Magassa as Nuno Espirito Santo’s West Ham United left it late to see off Burton Albion in the FA Cup fourth round.
One of ten changes from the team which claimed a draw with Manchester United in midweek – Nuno gave first starts to Keiber Lamadrid and Mohamadou Kante while calling up the likes of Adama Traore, Callum Wilson and Kyle Walker-Peters – the former Monaco midfielder made his return to the XI.
Soungoutou Magassa has played only 11 Premier League minutes since being hauled off at half-time during that Molineux implosion five weeks ago.
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In the cup though, he has been an almost ever-present. Magassa helped Crysencio Summerville get up and running with a neat assist against QPR in round three. He can claim some of the credit, then, as the ‘unstoppable’ Summerville scored a sixth goal in seven games.
There was very little to write home about at the Pirelli Stadium, though. Impressive against QPR, pretty insipid here against the team fourth-bottom in League One.
Yet, if Adama, Walker-Peters and Ollie Scales did little to boost their hopes of more top-flight minutes, Freddie Potts’ red card means Magassa dented his reputation and climbed up the pecking order in the very same afternoon.
Soungoutou Magassa will hope to take advantage as West Ham United lose Freddie Potts
Potts saw red for a ‘rash’ challenge on Burton’s Julian Larsson only four minutes after Summerville fired a deflected effort past Brad Collins.
The football gods giveth, the football gods taketh away.
Nuno will welcome Jean-Clair Todibo back against Bournemouth after three games out, but suddenly finds himself without his 22-year-old academy graduate against Liverpool and Fulham, plus Andoni Iraola’s resurgent Cherries.
“I didn’t see the images, so it’s very difficult to judge. What I can share is that Freddie is not a violent player,” Nuno told TNT Sports, quick to defend an all-action midfielder who took that fierce competitive a little too far in Staffordshire.
“That is not the way he plays football.”
Potts won’t be doing much of that – playing football – for the next few weeks.
Liverpool could be a big game for Magassa
If Magassa had slipped to fourth in Nuno’s midfield pecking order over the course of the last month, the £14 million summer signing should now have the chance to remind the manager of his talents.
Magassa was underwhelming against Burton but, in particular against a Liverpool outfit expected to dominate possession, his physicality could come in very handy, either from the start or to shore things up off the bench.
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How can Magassa and Kante improve?
Mohamadou Kante came into the game amid lofty expectations, meanwhile, following a series of rampaging performances with the Under-21s. Often caught in possession and loose with his touch, this was a reminder of much far Kante still has to learn at senior level.
Though, like Magassa, like debutant Keiber Lamadrid and an impressive Ezra Mayers, opportunities will remain for those willing to seize them.
Especially if a recent trend of straight red cards continues…
“The most important thing is that [the youngsters] had the chance to play, get minutes in the legs, and get rhythm,” Nuno said as West Ham put their name in the hat for Monday’s fifth round draw. “This is important because, moving forward, we are going to need them all.
“This is the FA Cup. We knew what to expect.
“The way Burton play the game, with energy, creating problems in the box. In attack, we had some chances, but we knew it was going to be tough. We are really, really pleased to come through [the game].
“We knew that Burton would come strong. Every throw-in, every set-piece is a [situation] that requires maximum attention. The boys did well containing that aspect.”
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