Former West Ham United midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger might have seen his old employers robbed of a vital Premier League win away at Brighton, but his overarching feeling was one of positivity.
The Hammers have now lost only one of their last six since the 2-1 defeat by Leeds back in October.
Jarrod Bowen ended his drought with an ‘unbelievable’ finish at the Amex, Crysencio Summerville returned from injury, and West Ham United picked up an impressive result away to a side they had beaten only once in 16 Premier League meetings.
Of course, the nature of Sunday’s eventual 1-1 draw left a sour taste. West Ham could have drawn level with Leeds and Nottingham Forest with a win, and they were only a few minutes away from doing just that.
Nuno Espirito Santo was furious about the way Georginio Rutter snatched a contentious late leveller. And rightly so, in the view of at least former refereeing experts.
Mark Clattenburg and Keith Hackett agree that Rutter’s 91st minute strike should not have stood.
Hitzlsperger, though, preferred to keep his post-match analysis firmly fixed on the football, rather than engage himself in any officiating controversy. In addition to the rapid-fire transitions led by Summerville, Bowen and second-half substitute Callum Wilson, it was the performance of Lucas Paqueta which really caught the German’s eye.
Thomas Hitzlsperger is a huge fan of West Ham United’s Lucas Paqueta
A week after the West Ham fans lambasted Lucas Paqueta for the most ludicrous and avoidable red cards, the Brazil international was back in Nuno’s starting XI.
This time, he let his football do the talking.
What is YOUR favourite Lucas Paqueta moment, and why?
Nuno was delighted to see Paqueta return to the pitch and provide a timely reminder of his mercurial, occasionally effervescent brilliance. One moment in particular, coming in the 15th minute on the South Coast, stuck in Hitzlsperger’s mind.
Paqueta made a mess of a first-time flick around the corner but, after finally getting the ball under control, he threaded a gorgeous pass in behind for an onrushing Crysencio Summerville.
In the first half alone, Paqueta displayed wondrous, almost supernatural vision, setting Bowen away with another instinctive pass before creating the best chance of the opening ’45 for a wasteful Summerville.
“The position they are in now, in the bottom three, it is about stability and defending as a team, and using your moments when you break away,” Hitzlsperger said on BBC’s Match of the Day 2.
“Their front three with Paqueta, Summerville, and Bowen, they work very hard as a team. Almost as a small team within a team, and that is what they needed.
“Paqueta is such a good player. When he gets it, he immediately knows where to put the ball. This created a very good chance for Summerville.
“Every time these moments came along, the front three were very, very quick. You see the entire team in the box, working for each other, but you might get an opportunity [to break]. It’s a long way between their goal and the opposition’s goal, but they managed it.
“[In another counter-attack] Paqueta wins the header, and it all goes in one direction. Bowen on the left, he goes all the way, and it’s a sprint. This is what you need to do because these are opportunities. Summerville doesn’t score because it’s good defending.
“Paqueta also defends. He works for the team.”
Was Jarrod Bowen simply unlucky? Or is there ANOTHER reason why his form had dipped under Nuno?
Nuno Espirito Santo hails Paqueta response after Liverpool red card
Only Mateus Fernandes has made more tackles than Paqueta in the current Premier League campaign. Some may see him as a luxury player of sorts, but he certainly does the dirty work.
The goal which put West Ham ahead on 73 minutes, meanwhile, was Nuno’s gameplan executed to a tee. Clearing the ball from danger in a packed penalty area, the Hammers forced Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke into a poor backpass.
Callum Wilson, fresh off the bench, raced onto it and held up the ball just long enough for his captain to make a run. Bowen finished off the move with typical panache.
“For the goal, it’s very solid in the middle, very, very good defensively. And Wilson, who fancies his chances having just come on, he’s the sort of player who can make the difference. That is what you need, a little bit of luck and you have to anticipate,” adds Hitzlsperger, the Aston Villa cult hero who represented West Ham in the 2010/11 season and later returned to England with Everton.
“It is about the mindset; you have to defend, you have to suffer as a team, and you have to rely on your front players to go all the way and work hard.”
“I think Lucas played a good game,” Nuno added. “Working well in the middle of the park, creating passes, I think he performed well.
“Summerville also came back and that’s the positive. We had to manage him, but he felt good. The idea of half-time was to assess him. He felt good, so we gave him 20 minutes more.”
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