Arne Slot namedrops West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta after Arsenal vs Liverpool controversy
Arne Slot hadn’t forgotten Lucas Paqueta’s antics from West Ham’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool back in November.
West Ham are on the slide under Nuno Espirito Santo, though a lot of the blame lies with the senior players who simply haven’t performed to their expected standards this season.
Paqueta is at the very top of that list, having registered just one assist so far this season for the Hammers, with his next most recent one coming in 2024.
However, one thing that Paqueta has done consistently over the last 12 months is find himself embroiled in controversy, and Slot was reminiscent of an incident from a clash against the Irons when discussing one of the biggest talking points from their draw with Arsenal.
Conor Bradley incident leads to Lucas Paqueta comparison
Arsenal and Liverpool played out a rather boring 0-0 draw on Thursday, though the game came to life in the final few minutes.
Conor Bradley went down with an injury in the dying minutes, and it’s fair to say that Gabriel Martinelli was having none of it.
The Brazilian threw the ball at Bradley before attempting to push the Northern Ireland international off the pitch, though Bradley was soon stretchered off with what looked to be aserious injury.
It didn’t go down well, but Slot shared his sympathy for Martinelli after the game while comparing the incident to when Paqueta got sent off against Liverpool.
In his press conference, Slot said: “I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli, but he comes across as a nice guy. I think the problem for him is, and it’s a problem in general in football, that there is so much time-wasting and players pretending to be injured.
“I cannot ask of Gabriel Martinelli in the 94th minute when it’s so emotional for him to understand he is playing Liverpool – a team when we played Leeds and a player was held but didn’t go to the floor, or played West Ham United, and Paqueta tries everything to get a second yellow card, my players try to drag him out.”
Arne Slot has previously hailed Paqueta at West Ham
While Slot was eager to make that comparison from a controversial point of view, he has preivoulsy labelled Paqueta as a quality player.
Liverpool secured a 2-1 victory over West Ham in April 2025, and while the Brazilian was unable to register a goal or an assist, he still caught the eye of the Reds boss, who was also impressed with Mohammed Kudus.
“I think they’re 16th or 17th in the league, but I can name you one or two players that could easily have played with us today as well in terms of quality,” Slot said last year.
“That is what the Premier League is about. And they used them more and more in the second half, these two quality players. And they have more, but I think Paqueta and Kudus were outstanding today, especially in the second half.”
However, as has been said on many occasions, Paqueta will need to cut the silly acts out of his game if he is to progress to the next level in his career.
Stay up to date this winter with our West Ham transfer tracker. Click to see every done deal at the London Stadium, plus expert reaction from our team of writers.