Graham Potter ‘must axe Paqueta now’ after what West Ham player did v Brighton
West Ham United boss Graham Potter should not allow Lucas Paqueta to come out for the second half after his performance so far against Brighton.
Potter made three changes to his starting line-up for the Premier League clash at the AMEX Stadium on Saturday (26 April).
Niclas Fullkrug, Vladimir Coufal and Carlos Soler were axed in favour of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Paqueta kept his place from the 1-1 draw with Southampton but he should be replaced at the interval after his actions against Fabian Hurzeler’s side.
Paqueta at fault as Brighton open scoring v West Ham
The Hammers have been in dismal form lately under Potter, and it did not seem like improving as the Seagulls took an early lead in the contest.
Yasin Ayari opened the scoring with a long-range effort but it could have been stopped had Paqueta made more of an effort to close him down.
After the failed intervention for the goal, the 27-year-old struggled to try and get his side back into the clash, creating zero chances and contributing with just one shot, which was off target.
Potter needs to seriously consider taking the Brazilian off at the break.
West Ham needs to show more v Brighton
The Irons are safe from relegation despite sitting in 17th place in the Premier League, so they can afford to be more aggressive in the second half.
Potter has struggled to turn around the London Stadium outfit’s fortunes since taking over from Julen Lopetegui in January.
| Stats | Won | Drawn | Lost |
| Potter | 3 | 4 | 7 |
He has won just three of his first 14 matches in charge and it looks like that record will get worse as they are trailing at the break.
If Potter is to change that, he needs to get the likes of Fullkrug and Danny Ings into the mix and take Paqueta out of the firing line.
It is too early for sack talk, given that the former Brighton man has not had a transfer window to mould the squad in his image but the pressure will continue to rise, the longer that performances are this bad.
There needs to at least be signs of progress, rather than the current mediocre style of play that Potter has overseen. He is running out of excuses.