Credit: Imago

Jacob Raw

Mon 6 April 2026 14:10, UK

Nuno Espirito Santo‘s midfield selections in West Ham United‘s FA Cup loss to Leeds United had the Hammers on the back foot from the off.

The Irons were knocked out of the FA Cup quarter-finals by the visitors at the London Stadium on Sunday, after a penalty shootout loss.

There were many talking points from the game, with both sides still rivalling one another in hopes of staying in the Premier League.

West Ham had to fight back from a two-goal deficit to force extra time against the Whites, but the game could have been so different had the Hammers got their lineup correct.

Nuno made some bold decisions, and his starting midfield was perhaps the area which let the Hammers down in this one.

Freddie Potts and Soungoutou Magassa were out of their depth

Nuno started with Freddie Potts and Soungoutou Magassa as a double pivot, quickly realising his error, as both were taken off at halftime.

But by then, the Hammers were already one down, and chasing the game, which favoured Leeds and Daniel Farke’s style.

As seen in the table above, Magassa was particularly poor, as Potts was given no help by his midfield partner.

There have already been questions over Potts and his ability to play in the top-flight, but leaving him next to an inexperienced Magassa in a game like that is simply unforgivable from Nuno.

Mohamadou Kante was praised for his cameo off the bench in extra time, where he won plenty of his ground duels, as the Frenchman may have been the player to start next to Potts if Nuno was trying to experiment.

What must Tomas Soucek have been thinking?

Tomas Soucek was left out of the starting lineup by Nuno, and it’s hard to argue against the fact that the Hammers would have been in a better position for the first half if he were there instead of Magassa.

The Czech Republic international is one of the remaining players left from West Ham’s Europa Conference League-winning squad, and is someone who knows his way around cup competitions.

The only explanation for Nuno’s actions is that he is more focused on the Premier League and wanted to save some key players. However, that just looks silly considering the atmosphere at the London Stadium, with all Hammers fans expecting a big performance.

Nuno has some questions to answer moving forward, and let’s hope that whatever experiments he tried against the Whites pay off, with seven crucial league games left to go.