Rob Green used the word ‘ridiculous’ to describe Lucas Paqueta’s red card during West Ham United’s 2-0 home defeat by flailing Premier League champions Liverpool.
The buzzword in the aftermath, meanwhile, may be another beginning with ‘R’. Responsibility.
Can you use it in a sentence, please? Well, isn’t it about time Lucas Paqueta took ‘responsibility’ for his actions?
That appears to be the overriding feeling among a West Ham United fanbase who are having his excuses no longer. Yes, that two-year match fixing charge obviously affected the Brazil international deeply. Paqueta was understandably highly emotional when he was finally acquitted over the summer.
As Brazil teammate and Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes said to ESPN a few months back, Paqueta endured ‘long exchanges of tears [and] agony’ before finally being permitted to kick-start his footballing career free from the spectre of a potential lifetime ban.
But talking his way into the most avoidable and amateur red card at the London Stadium, it is fair to say the West Ham supporters are not going to allow Paqueta to pin the blame on match-fixing accusations which came to an end four months ago.
West Ham United fans are not having Lucas Paqueta’s post-Liverpool explanation
Former Upton Park goalkeeper Rob Green certainly pulled no punches.
Lucas Paqueta was ‘completely irresponsible’ in the way he hounded referee Darren England, picking up two yellow cards in a matter of minutes as he simply refused to stop complaining directly in the face of an official who rightly felt he had no choice.
That is seven yellow cards in 12 Premier League matches now. And when West Ham travel to Manchester United on Thursday, they will be without their talismanic playmaker through suspension for a second time in three game days.
If Paqueta felt that his attempted explanation on X would see the supporters rallying behind him, though, it seems he was mistaken.
“It’s ridiculous to have your life and career affected for two years without any psychological support from the federation,” he wrote. “Perhaps this ridiculous behaviour is just a reflection of everything I’ve had to endure and, it seems, have to continue enduring!
“I’m sorry if I’m not perfect.”
He has a point, perhaps. Maybe the FA did not give Paqueta the support he needed while his name and his reputation was being dragged through the mud.
Then again, no one is demanding he be ‘perfect’.
Expecting him to lead by example and not leave his teammates a man down when a point or three is there to be won, however, is surely not too much to ask for.
Paqueta apologies to teammates as supporters hit out
When the rest of the West Ham players are almost pleading with you to stop whining on at a referee, that should probably tell you that you have crossed a line.
“Grown man. Maybe stop giving [the referees] reasons to book you every game? We lost a legend today and you’ve completely shamed him with that performance,” one fan wrote on a day in which West Ham bid farewell to Billy Bonds, their all-time record appearance maker.
“Sue the FA, then. [Do] not let your teammates and fans down. If you are not fit to play you should ask not to be selected,” another less-than-forgiving supporter wrote.
“We’ve all backed you through thick and thin, and that’s how you repay your team mates, the club and the fans.”
“All West Ham fans sympathise with what you’ve gone through Lucas. But there was no excuse for today. We were still in the game and you let the fans, the club and your teammates down by what you did. An apology to us all would not go amiss. We expect better next game.”
“On the day we lost one of our greatest legends, you chose to act like a child when the team needed you. Talk with your feet not your oversized mouth.”
“Today was about Billy Bonds, not yourself. I’m sorry, as much as we all love you, that was stupid behaviour Lucas.”
“Yes, you had a hard time from the FA but people have real problems. What you did today was inexcusable. It was petulant, it was moronic and it cost us.”
In his defence, Paqueta did apologise in another X post.
“I understand that now I have to come across as the villain. It’s hard to live with everything that was caused in my life and in my psyche!” he wrote, translated from his native Portuguese. “I’ll keep trying to ensure they don’t affect me even more.
“This doesn’t justify my expulsion and that’s why I apologise to the fans and my teammates!”
Nuno Espirito Santo plans to discuss Liverpool flashpoint with Paqueta
After picking up successive London Stadium wins for the first time since October 2024, this was a real ‘back down to earth with a bump’ moment for West Ham. A return to the sort of insipid, yellow-bellied, meek home performance which came to epitomise the Graham Potter era.
To think, Lucas Paqueta was one of West Ham’s brighter performers before he left his team in a hole of his own making shortly before Cody Gakpo doubled Liverpool’s lead.
“Until the end, we kept fighting and we kept believing,” Nuno protested. “We had a good chance, and I have nothing to say about the effort or desire that the boys put into the game.
“On the red card, I think I should speak to Lucas before I make any kind of comment.”
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