Credit: Imago

Max Wilkins

Mon 6 April 2026 7:15, UK

West Ham United didn’t benefit from having Pablo on the pitch before losing to Leeds United on penalties on Sunday afternoon.

The Hammers were just spot kicks away from securing a place at Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final for the first time in 20 years.

Things didn’t go the hosts’ way from 12 yards, as Jarrod Bowen and the Brazilian saw their efforts saved by Lucas Perri.

Pascal Struijk netted the winner as his penalty struck the post before finding the back of the net at the London Stadium.

Pablo failed with his penalty against Leeds as he summed up his performance as a substitute in one massively frustrating moment.

Pablo was terrible vs Leeds United

Nuno Espirito Santo has helped turn the Irons’ fortunes around by utilising a front two made up of two January signings.

Often, Taty Castellanos and Pablo have started together, but neither had the desired impact in the FA Cup quarter-final.

The man signed from Gil Vicente was arguably the worst of the two, as his performance has been questioned by many in E20.

There were few positives to take as the forward came on at half time and featured across a further 75 minutes in East London.

He managed just 40 touches in that time and followed that up with just 18 accurate passes and a zero per cent shot accuracy.

A total creation of 0.06 expected goals certainly isn’t good enough and just sums up his lack of true attacking threat on the day.

The Brazilian was also caught offside once and was dispossessed once, all while losing 15 duels against a physical Leeds backline.

Pablo has struggled since signing for West Ham, but this is just the low point in his London Stadium career since moving in the winter.

Pablo must not start for West Ham

Nuno can’t watch over that performance and then decide to start with the January signing, moving into the Premier League.

The Hammers are in a poor position and are in desperate need of points when they face off against Wolves in their next outing.

Starting with Pablo could prove a massive risk, given how poor he was against Leeds during a lengthy substitute cameo.

He showed no true goalscoring threat and never looked as if he was going to cause problems for Daniel Farke’s men.

Pablo could face a spell on the bench as his performance must have raised concerns for Nuno in East London.