By Louis Nixon
**Mateus Fernandes, since joining West Ham, has had an array of opinions, all of which have varied from positive to negative.**
However, under Graham Potter, Fernandes seemed to struggle, and worries began to emerge about the Portuguese international. And whilst under Nuno, he initially said:
“Mateus is a challenge that we have on our hands, and we sincerely believe that we can help Mateus.”
Help he has! Against Newcastle, Fernandes played in a role which saw him and Paqueta both drop deeper than normal which allowed the pair to help each other out and not worry entirely about defensive duties due to Potts having that area covered.
Giving Fernandes the freedom as well as someone to work with allowed him to excel in a way we haven’t seen yet, finally unlocking a room of potentially we weren’t entirely sure he had.
The pair worked so well together that Fernandes even managed to provide the assist to Paqueta for the opener, which all came down to his positioning.
Additionally, he achieved 88% pass accuracy, creating three key passes and four into the final third. He was simply immense on Sunday afternoon and hopefully this room of potential Nuno’s now found will help him continue on the right foot, bolstering out midfield woes in the process.
With an assist vs Newcastle and a goal the week before against Leeds he’s more than on the right track to succeed at West Ham now. He has a difficult job in a struggling team at the moment, but with the right teammates around him and Nuno at the helm, he certainly has the capability to become a great player for West Ham United.