The US – originated series ‘[Ted Lasso’](https://www.claretandhugh.info/west-ham-to-feature-in-new-season-of-tv-series/) – which proved hugely popular with non-football audiences in the UK – provided the inspiration and proved that _life is stranger than fiction_ as Nuno seemingly borrowed an idea from the series to motivate his Hammers squad yesterday.
The fictional comedy features a US coach drafted into the English Premier League with varying degrees of success and failure: His ‘BELIEVE” poster taped to the wall above the changing room door ended up being central to several of the stories.
Hammers coach uses images of the squad to motivate
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It was El Hadji-Malick Diouf’s “instagram stories” post that gave the game away: Nuno’s motivational mood-changer for the players apparently _consisted of a giant image containing pictures of every squad member when they were children_ onto the wall.
Presumably in a bid to make them super proud of what they’ve become and the dream they’ve made possible through their own hard work, the Portuguese head coach evidently tapped into a rich vein of pride amongst the squad as the Irons’ side played with passion, pride and spirit:
Three qualities which had been sadly lacking from the West Ham eleven for so long that fans hardly recognised the fighting qualities displayed to come back and win after going behind. Most would have been like me and feared the worst after going behind. Having their penalty award overturned by VAR and conceding just after hitting the post, it seemed that luck would be on Newcastle’s side.
It could indeed have been _‘believe’_ written large on the wall for the effect it had. A few more performances of that ilk and London Stadium fans will start to believe themselves.