Alan Smith shocked by Lucas Paqueta as West Ham United star lets Jarrod Bowen down v Arsenal
Alan Smith was stunned when Lucas Paqueta squandered a good chance for West Ham to score against Arsenal in the first half of their round-of-16 Carabao Cup clash at the London Stadium on Wednesday night.
Jarrod Bowen was through on goal and just needed to receive what looked like a relatively straightforward pass from Paqueta inside the opening five minutes of the game on 1 November.
However, Paqueta horribly overplayed the pass and it went straight out for a goal kick instead of allowing Bowen to have a one-on-one against Aaron Ramsdale.
Speaking on Sky Sports Main Event on Wednesday night (1 November, 07:33pm), commentator Pien Meulensteen said: “Paqueta’s misjudged the pass and Bowen, you can see the frustration on his face. He was waiting for it.”
Smith said: “You would not have thought that of Paqueta. If you wanted anyone in this position to weight a ball correctly, it would be the Brazilian.
“It was a simple pass and it was definitely on, wasn’t it?
“In the end, it’s miles off.”
Poor
It wasn’t great to see Paqueta wasting such a big opportunity.
It was 0-0 when he did that so he could have easily played in Bowen to assist the opening goal of the game.
Instead it was Bowen who had to make West Ham’s first goal when his corner kick was ludicrously diverted into his own net by Arsenal defender Ben White.
The Irons haven’t had too many chances in that first half so when they do have them, they need to be clinical.
Paqueta has been a bit off the boil as of late so he needs to knuckle down and do better after the break because David Moyes could look to axe the Brazilian playmaker if he continues to squander promising attacks.
As for Bowen, it’s great to see him performing well up front.
He’s applying a lot of pressure on the home side’s defence and making the right runs.
Someone just needs to start looking up and keeping their cool to find him in the right place at the right time.
In other West Ham news, Michail Antonio is irritated by a recent incident with the Irons.