West Ham United star Lucas Paqueta wrong man for World Cup battle – journalist
West Ham United star Lucas Paqueta was the wrong man to start against Croatia for Brazil in their FIFA World Cup Quarter Final on 9 December, according to FourFourTwo journalist Mark White.
Paqueta put in an absolute stinker in the engine room and went missing throughout the majority of the game in his worst performance in the tournament so far.
Brazil lost on penalties to a tenacious Croatian outfit and White confessed that the “exceptional” Paqueta was the wrong man to start for Brazil in the game.
“Lucas Paquetá is an exceptional player but I can’t believe Tite has put him in a midfield battle against Croatia instead of Bruno Guimarães,” said the journalist on Twitter.
It’s a fair comment to make after the Brazilian’s stinker, he looked like he couldn’t hack it against savvy and classy Croatian veteran Luka Modric.
Poor.
Paqueta’s poor performance will come under even more scrutiny after Brazil’s shocking loss to Croatia, especially considering they were favourites to win the World Cup.
Selfishly, Paqueta will return fit and firing for West Ham United but it’s not the kind of confidence blow you would want him returning to London with.
The hopes and nations of a country on your team’s shoulders can be tough to get over and Moyes will have to use all his man-management skills to keep Paqueta upbeat.
Over the course of the tournament, the midfielder did put in some scintillating displays so hopefully, this is something he can hold onto coming back to West Ham United.
He’ll be needed to be back to his very best in what will be a crucial run of games for the Hammers, the club are sitting far too close to the relegation zone for anyone’s liking at the moment.