Gary Lineker reacts to Lucas Paqueta goal for West Ham United at Newcastle United with crisps pun
Gary Lineker reacted to Lucas Paqueta’s West Ham equaliser at Newcastle with a particularly relevant pun as the Hammers recovered from a disastrous start.
The home side scored twice inside the first three minutes, although the first was ruled out after a VAR intervention, before Paqueta’s second goal in an Irons shirt dragged his side level and made a game of it again.
After looking like they might be set to get blown away by Eddie Howe’s high-flying Magpies the equaliser made it an even contest that ultimately brought a much-needed point for the visitors.
Posting on his personal Twitter account after the Brazilian’s first-half equaliser Lineker wrote: “A Paqueta crisp finish adds a bit of flavour to proceedings.”
Lineker of course knows all about crisps, having advertised them for nearly 30 years.
Growth
The start at St. James’ Park was about as dreadful as it could be, as Joe Willock smashed past Lukasz Fabianski inside a minute only to have it ruled out when the video assistant showed the ball had gone out prior.
Angelo Ogbonna and Thilo Kehrer then immediately let Callum Wilson straight through the middle of them to put Newcastle ahead officially as it appeared David Moyes and the fans would be set for a long night.
But it was a strong reaction after Paqueta turned home a Declan Rice corner at the back post, and should inspire some confidence for the upcoming clashes with Chelsea and Tottenham.
If record signing Paqueta can find himself amongst the goals a few more times it would be a major boost to the hopes of climbing away from the relegation zone.
That is especially pressing after wins for Everton and Leicester earlier on Saturday, meaning that West Ham cannot simply assume the teams around them will continue to do as badly as they have been doing.
The performance at Newcastle was more reminiscent of the team that held its own against anyone in the league in recent seasons, and should be a decent building block to pick up some wins as soon as possible.