Things are going from bad to worse for West Ham United at the moment.
The Hammers produced one of their worst performances on Saturday against Arsenal and deservedly lost 5-2 at the London Stadium.
The Gunners fully exploited West Ham’s defensive weaknesses, as Gabriel Magalhaes, Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, and Bukayo Saka all earned their names on the scoresheet.
Most of the Irons’ players were poor in the home defeat, but Lucas Paqueta was especially bad.
He lost the ball on too many occasions and brought down Saka in the box, allowing Odegaard to put his side three goals ahead.
Expressing his views on Talksport, former West Ham coach Alan Pardew said Paqueta has unbelievable quality but has become a liability at times.
He said: “He is almost like a liability at times when you haven’t got the ball. He has got unbelievable quality, and if I was at West Ham, I would play him. But I would certainly look at my back four and look for a bit more pace, a little bit more organization. Because if you are asking me what their problem is, it is defending”.
Paqueta has had a disappointing 2024-25 campaign for West Ham.
He has consistently been poor, but somehow Julen Lopetegui has been starting him in every game.
The Brazilian has featured in all 13 Premier League matches this season, but he has won just 40% of his ground duels and 38% of his aerial duels.
The midfielder has lost possession 14 times per game on average in the English top-flight.
Paqueta was excellent in the 2-0 win against Newcastle United, but he failed to repeat that feat in Saturday’s match.
It is time for Lopetegui to axe the 27-year-old from the team, but we doubt the Spanish boss will make that decision when they face Leicester City on Tuesday.
Stats from Sofascore