Former West Ham United defender Stuart Pearce has noticed a dramatic upturn in performances since Lucas Paqueta left the club.
Indeed, Paqueta’s acrimonious departure from West Ham United in January appears to have galvanised the group.
Now, that’s not to say Paqueta leaving is the only reason for West Ham’s improvement.
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As Pearce stresses, it would be far too much to blame one player and one player alone for the team’s struggles for the first half of the season.
Still, Paqueta’s departure has brought a clarity on the pitch. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have been much more coherent since his exit, and Pearce knows it.
Pearce says improvement has followed Paqueta’s departure
Speaking to Premier League Productions’ Team Talks, Pearce said: “Yeah, they’ve had an uplift. [konstantinos] Mavropanos is playing extremely well at the moment.
“[Mateus] Fernandes in midfield is playing well and they found a newfound confidence and work rate within the team. And they’re galvanising results on the back of that.
“Paqueta left and I don’t know whether it ties in with him leaving the club, but I don’t want to lay a blame on any one player’s doorstep as such, but the uplift has come since then.”
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Again, no one is blaming Paqueta alone for West Ham’s many failings in the first half of the season.
There is little doubt, however, that selling him looks to have given Nuno’s side more stability.
Indeed, it has allowed Tomas Soucek and Mateus Fernandes to build a productive partnership in central midfield, with Crysencio Summerville stepping up to fulfil creative duties.
Frankly, the brilliant form Fernandes has shown in central midfield has helped West Ham replace Paqueta.
Summerville is helping Jarrod Bowen on the attacking front, while January signings Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos bring an energy and industry that was previously lacking.
The two forwards might lack the quality Paqueta has when at his best, but supporters here in east London and beyond were not treated to that particularly regularly.
The Paqueta saga back in January threatened to further derail what was a miserable season for West Ham but the opposite has happened instead.
Though the midfielder himself is clearly not to blame for every single issue, it’s hard to imagine Nuno’s side being in a position to potentially stay up had Paqueta not left when he did.
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