Lopetegui must axe Lucas Paqueta after what he did in West Ham United win v Manchester United
Lucas Paqueta must face a spell on the bench after what he did for West Ham United in their win against Manchester United at the weekend.
The 27-year-old was one of three players Lopetegui hooked at half-time as the Irons beat the Red Devils 2-1 in the Premier League at the London Stadium on Sunday, 27 October.
It was brave of the Spaniard to take off Paqueta, as well as Carlos Soler and Konstantinos Mavropanos, so early with the game still at 0-0.
However, the changes eventually paid off as substitute Crysencio Summerville opened the scoring for the hosts and Danny Ings – another substitute – won the penalty that resulted in Jarrod Bowen’s late winner.
Lucas Paqueta’s form a concern for West Ham United
Lopetegui’s decision to hook Paqueta at half-time may seem brave, but a brief look at the Brazil international’s number shows that the move was completely sensible.
According to FotMob, the former Milan star failed to hit the target with his only shot and lost both the ground duels he attempted (zero per cent). He also committed three fouls during the 45 minutes he was on the pitch and was booked for one of them.
Winning one of his two aerial duels, recovering the ball five times and making one interception were his only contributions.
As per Sofascore, he also lost the ball ten times – a surprisingly low number for someone who played only half the game and registered just 33 touches.
Paqueta’s overall form this season will be a cause of concern for West Ham as he has only netted twice in eleven games across all competitions.
This has also seen his average Premier League rating on WhoScored drop by 0.68 compared to last season.
Paqueta has started in all but one of West Ham’s nine league games this term, but Lopetegui appears to be seeing sense as he is set to drop him against Nottingham Forest this Saturday, 2 November (GiveMeSport).
In other West Ham news, the Irons may have to scrap plans to sign this transfer target after what his head coach said.
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