David Moyes has thrown West Ham star Lucas Paqueta under the bus with a bizarre admission that only reflects badly on him.
There was huge excitement around West Ham when the club made Brazil star Paqueta their record signing in the summer.
But it is fair to say he has struggled to adjust and adapt to English football – like so many down the years.
The midfielder had looked to be finding some kind of form when he started to link up well with striker Gianluca Scamacca in an advanced role earlier this season.
Games against Wolves, Anderlecht and Fulham saw Paqueta, Scamacca and Declan Rice forging a promising dynamic. Paqueta registered some clever assists for the Italian and things seemed to be clicking.
West Ham then went to Southampton and drew 1-1. It was a game the Hammers should have won comfortably as Scamacca and Paqueta – among others – spurned a host of chances. And Peter Bankes put in one of the worst displays from a referee in living memory.
There was not too much wrong with the overall performance, though.
Yet Moyes started to change things again and West Ham completely lost their way as they spiralled into this relegation battle.
Playing in a deeper role for Brazil at the World Cup, Paqueta impressed. That sparked claims Moyes should use him in a similar way for the Hammers.
Many missed the point that West Ham don’t have Casemiro, Neymar, Raphinha, Viniscus Junior and Richarlison alongside Paqueta with Marquinhos and Thiago Silva behind him to make it all work!
Playing in a deeper role for West Ham, Paqueta is – if we are being honest – having zero tangible impact on matches.
He was substituted in the win over Everton and was rested at Derby. Paqueta did not do much wrong in the Everton game and worked hard for the team. But he is a clever, flair player capable of defence splitting passes and scoring the odd goal, yet here he is defending on the edge of his own box for West Ham.
A video from Rush Green last week showed Paqueta coming alive in and around the box during a West Ham training match.
It is fair to say most expected much more from Paqueta than the one goal and three assists he has registered so far for West Ham in all competitions.
He scored 11 goals and got seven assists for Lyon last season in Ligue 1 and the Europa League.
But Moyes has already proved he has no idea where best to use the Brazilian or that he knows what system to play to get the most out of his talents. When he first signed for the Hammers, Moyes said Paqueta could play in a number of positions including a six and an eight.
Then during the World Cup, Moyes proudly stated “Brazil’s number 10 plays for West Ham” – but everyone knows that is not the role Paqueta plays for his national team. There’s a bloke called Neymar who tends to play there and has done for a few years.
Now Moyes has thrown West Ham star Paqueta under the bus with bizarre admission that only reflects badly on him.
Speaking in his latest press conference, Moyes has told the world he expected double figures in goals AND double figures in assists from Paqueta.
But the Scot – who is contradicting himself after repeatedly calling for people to give Paqueta time to adjust to English football – says he has had to move him to a deeper role because the midfielder hasn’t delivered on those expectations.
“When we bought Lucas, we looked at him as more of a No 10,” Moyes told the press ahead of the game against Newcastle (Football.London).
“We tried to bring in someone who could give us a link between the midfield and forward players and I still think it may be.
“But his feeling is, if you look at where he’s played for Brazil, it’s tended to be Casemiro and Paqueta (in midfield) and Neymar getting the No 10 role. Lucas Paqueta was slightly deeper. So we’ve tried to give him the opportunity to play slightly deeper where he’s played for Brazil.
“I’ll be honest, we brought him for eight to 10 goals, for eight to 10 assists. But if you’re asking me how he’s doing, he’s settling in much better, he’s playing better in games. We’re playing him more like a No 8 if you want to call it that, alongside Dec. But the fact is, yeah, we hoped he would get us goals or add assists…
“If you took the word “Brazilian” away and you took the other side – his effort, his commitment, his application to get about – is so, so good. Now what we want is a bit of Brazilian, which is making the goals, scoring the goals, making the difference when we need it.”
These are quite frankly embarrassing comments from Moyes which clearly show he knew very little about Paqueta and his best position and attributes before signing him.
He has never been Brazil’s number 10 – exhibit A being Neymar. And besides his second season at Flamengo and last season with Lyon, Paqueta has never got anywhere close to double figure goals AND double figure assists in a season.
The West Ham manager did praise the player for being a good professional and character within the team.
But perhaps Moyes thinks Paqueta needs some stick as well as carrot.That can be the only explanation for these comments.
About a month ago L’Equipe called Moyes out on his misuse of Paqueta and said the Scot’s defensive setup was the real reason for the player’s struggles.
Many West Ham fans would make them right.
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