‘I loathe that’ – Simon Jordan hates what Nuno Espirito Santo has said about West Ham controversy
Nuno Espirito Santo’s public comments in the wake of West Ham’s defeat by Liverpool have been slammed by Simon Jordan.
The Hammers boss came out to defend Lucas Paqueta in the wake of his red card against Liverpool on Sunday, which the Brazilian had blamed on the difficulties he has been through during a two-year spot-fixing investigation into him from the FA.
Liverpool broke their losing run with a 2-0 win at West Ham at the London Stadium, with the sending off the key moment when Paqueta‘s meltdown saw him booked twice in quick succession for dissent by Darren England.
Nuno subsequently told the media that West Ham “protect our own” and that his star midfielder is “suffering” in supportive comments following the defeat, but ex-Crystal Palace chairman Jordan hates the way the Portuguese manager has been speaking.
Lucas Paqueta blasted over excuses for red card
Jordan has been firmly of the opinion that if Paqueta’s spot-fixing investigation was entirely unfounded then he has been treated terribly by the FA and the player must take legal action against them.
But he continues to insist that the 28-year-old wasn’t actually cleared of wrong-doing, just that it was not proven, and doesn’t feel it excuses his behaviour on the pitch at the weekend either way.
Speaking live on talkSPORT he claimed that Nuno will feel very differently about the situation than what he has said publicly.
He said: “We must separate the two. We mustn’t let people get excuses. We know that he’s had challenges. I mean, I don’t know how some of them keep their face together when they read out some of this tripe.
“I suspect it’s part of the job as a manager to prostitute yourself and not say what you really think which is: ‘Pack it in, we’ve all got to get on with things in life, we need you as a football team, and the football club has supported you for the last two years, and it’s really the football club that’s been impacted alongside you’. And we don’t hear the football club complaining about it we hear the football club getting on with it.”
After Jim White raised Nuno’s supportive comments Jordan went on: “He can’t. Listen, I loathe that sort of language… I think he might feel he’s the victim of a circumstance, yeah. I think people convince themselves of narratives and then believe those narratives to be true.”
Paqueta’s West Ham ban update confirmed
The FA have now confirmed that Paqueta will only miss one game with suspension after opting to warn him rather than impose further punishment for the dissent, and continuing to sarcastically applaud England on the way off the pitch.
He will therefore be absent at Old Trafford against Man United on Thursday night, but it should give him the opportunity to bounce back quickly at Brighton at the weekend.
Nuno will obviously have to be confident that one of his star men is in the right frame of mind to play, however, as he won’t be able to risk a similar implosion at the Amex.
Whether there will be interest sufficient to be backed up with a substantial transfer offer in the January window remains to be seen, but if a club does put a decent bid on the table it may be a parting of the ways is in all sides’ best interest.
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