West Ham United manager David Moyes spoke about Lucas Paqueta following the 2-0 defeat to Fulham on Sunday.
Lucas Paqueta is not a David Moyes sort of player at all really is he…or at least, the West Ham star certainly shouldn’t be on paper.
The Brazilian put in an absolutely stinking performance for the Hammers yesterday. He was partly to blame for Fulham’s open goal, after he showboated in possession and then pathetically threw himself to ground.
Paqueta stunk out the place against Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday as well, and it’s starting to look like his head might have been turned.
I really hope I’m wrong and that’s not the case, but it was claimed back in the summer that he has his heart set on a move to Manchester City.
So is the 26-year-old’s mind already on a summer switch to the Etihad? If his display yesterday is anything to go by I would say definitely yes. However, what did Moyes think of Paqueta’s performance?
Moyes shares what he thought about Lucas Paqueta performance
The Scot has admitted in the past that the former Lyon man has made him pull his hair out at times, but he’s accepted that because of the positives that he brings.
Paqueta’s display against Fulham yesterday surely would have tested Moyes to the limit.
The Hammers midfielder really was so poor. When he had the ball, he was doing things that would only be acceptable if we were 3-0 up, not 1 or 2-0 down.
Moyes responded when asked by reporters yesterday to give his opinion on Paqueta’s performance, as quoted by West Ham Football:
“Now and then you get players like this – I have not had many of them – and you have to give them license. We really like him, he has done a great job for us and today it just did not happen.”
Paqueta is an absolute maverick, we all know that. He brings so much to our attacking play but when we’re losing, he does seem to be like a luxury player – a passenger if you will.
Moyes has to get in his ear about his pathetic playacting – it cost us dearly today.
All-round though, he’s an incredible talent, and I suppose we just have to enjoy him while he’s still here.
What Tim Vickery told West Ham fans about Paqueta just before we signed him
The South American football expert gave us the lowdown on Lucas just days before his move to the London Stadium was made official in 2022.
What Vickery said has now proven to be absolutely spot on:
“He really is an attacking midfielder, you can play him right up front, can play him as a kind of withdrawn winger and you could also play him deeper in midfield. Although there is a problem there that sometimes he can give the ball away too close to goal because he’s showboating. This is the one potential problem with him and is the reason, I think, that he’s available to a club like West Ham – and is at Lyon at the moment – after not quite hitting the expectations at Milan. He is a little bit petulant, there’s a little bit of the petulant schoolboy about him. You’d hope that somebody who grew up on an island without cars would have a calmer disposition to life than Paqueta has! So it would be a challenge of man management for David Moyes but the quality, the class that he could bring are very, very exciting indeed.”
He could not have done a better job of describing Paqueta could he! Moyes clearly loves Lucas Paqueta.
We know that because he really isn’t the kind of player the Scot usually likes, yet he starts every single game when he’s fit
Hopefully we see him at his very best between now and the end of the season, because West Ham are going to need him if we are to finish inside the top seven.
READ ALSO:
Sacked 3 months ago, 61-yo who’s managed 3 PL clubs could replace Moyes as West Ham boss
Reporter close to Sullivan makes fresh Steidten claim and it means one very simple thing for Moyes
All systems go for Sullivan as big news emerges on manager after ‘West Ham dream job’ comments
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
