David Moyes saluted his “maverick” ahead Lucas Paqueta after the 2-1 Europa League win at Freiburg, though he drives him mad.
Freiburg’s nickname is the Breisgau Brazilians on account of their flamboyant model of play, nevertheless it was West Ham’s Samba star Paqueta who stole the present.
He put them forward after solely 9 minutes with a towering header from a cross by Jarrod Bowen, celebrating his return to the England squad.
Our Brazilian Magnifico pic.twitter.com/plFwjWjIrr
— West Ham United (@WestHam) October 5, 2023
Paqueta then spent the remainder of the night tormenting the hosts together with his array of flicks, methods and occasional theatrics.
“It was a bit of an old-fashioned goal, down the side with a good cross, and then a great header like an old-fashioned centre forward. I really enjoyed watching it,” stated Hammers boss Moyes.
“Jarrod performed effectively however Lucas was terrific. He drives me mad generally however all people who watched him would have stated this participant has acquired unbelievable expertise.
“There is a phrase that goes round, a maverick. He is that for us.
“It is actually essential we get him in and adapt to him and settle for a few of his issues he could not do, issues which I’d say are typical.
“But we are really enjoying him at the moment and he is terrific at taking the ball under pressure – but also there are moments when I say: ‘what are you doing’?”
The match could have taken place on the sting of the Black Forest, nevertheless it was by no means going to be a bit of cake for the Hammers towards a aspect eighth in the Bundesliga.
They have been additionally up towards 34,000 noisy followers, with no away supporters allowed to attend following incidents throughout West Ham’s Europa Conference League closing triumph in June.
Freiburg equalised after half-time via Roland Sallai, however Nayef Aguerd’s header from a James Ward-Prowse nook made it two wins from two in Group A and a seventeenth match undefeated in Europe, a document for an English membership.
“It’s a brilliant achievement, I’ve said to the boys we need to keep it going. Winning the game tonight was most important,” added Moyes.
“I’m actually happy. We performed very effectively particularly, in the opening 20 or half-hour.
“They came back, which I expected. They got better and we had moments when we played very well but we mainly won the first half. We had to then be good defensively.”
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