West Ham United lost 5-2 to Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday night.
And in my opinion, West Ham co-owner David Sullivan should take immediate action, and not just with Julen Lopetegui!
It was a really tough day for the Hammers at the London Stadium, as Arsenal romped away to a 5-2 victory.
Things could have been much worse had Arsenal not taken their foot off the gas in the second-half.
We all should have known it wasn’t going to be our day after an embarrassing gaff saw our tifo display go all wrong, with the date we were established being shown as 1695!
Julen Lopetegui, Manager of West Ham United speaks in a press conference after the Premier League match between West Ham United FC and Arsenal FC a...
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The game against Leicester on Tuesday has now become a must-win – nothing less will do.
Our key players have to step up and improve massively between now and the end of the season, if they are to make up for their poor form during the first few months of the campaign.
However, I believe the Hammers have to take action now with one player in particular, with the January transfer window just around the corner.
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West Ham must must make Lucas Paqueta decision after Arsenal
Lucas Paqueta put in a woeful performance yesterday as far as I’m concerned.
West Ham signed Paqueta from Lyon in the summer of 2022 for around £42 million – a fee that could rise to £50 million depending on incentivised add-ons.
However, if we’re being honest with ourselves, he hasn’t produced the form we all expected when he arrived.
On his day, he is unplayable, but he has been really poor over the past year or so.
That’s understandable, as he faces charges for potential betting breaches, and could be handed a life-time ban if found guilty.
However, he simply has to do more, and his performance yesterday was unacceptable.
Paqueta gave away a cheap penalty midway through the first half, with a really lazy challenge on Bukayo Saka.
The just minutes later he gifted Arsenal the ball after he was complacent in possession, only for the Gunners to break quickly and score their fourth.
team photo of West Ham United FC (L-R) Konstantinos Mavropanos, Emerson Palmieri, Edson Alvarez, Nayef Aguerd, Lukasz Fabianski, Vladimír Coufal, ...
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The South American was incredibly ineffective going forward as well.
It was such a poor performance from him, but more worryingly it looked to me like he couldn’t actually be bothered.
West Ham have to sell Paqueta now
If there are any takers for the Brazilian in January, get him gone.
It has been claimed that the Hammers owners would accept a bid of around £25 million for the 27-year-old.
I would suggest that we should let him go for even less than that.
He has just two goals and no assists to his name in 15 games in all competitions for the Hammers so far this season.
Someone with his ability should be on double figure goal contributions by this stage of the campaign.
As good as Lucas Paqueta can be for West Ham on his day, he just doesn’t produce regularly enough at the very highest level.
I think the Hammers need to move on from the former Lyon man as quickly as possible.
And a January exit would be preferable.
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