Away from his pretty ordinary form at West Ham this season, Lucas Paquetá has enjoyed a run in the Brazilian national side despite the gathering storm clouds over the ‘bets for yellow cards’ scandal. The Parliamentary enquiry in Brazil is due two kick off on October 30th and the FA enquiry next March.
The pressure is now mounting of Paquetá as far as his place in the national side with former player -turned- pundit José Ferreira Neto demanding he be dropped from the national side.
In a furious outburst, Neto voiced the opinion – that is gathering traction across Brazil – that Paquetá should not be representing the national side whilst the allegations are hanging over him.
Suggesting young midfielder Raphael Veiga should be starting in his place, Neto the pundit did not hold back, claiming that Viega is the best left midfielder and best youngster in Brazilian football right now and continuing to select Paquetá amounted to being ‘dirty and corrupt’.
From the way his form has deteriorated and the third-minute booking he picked up in Brazil’s last outing, Paquetá is suspended for the countries’ next game anyway so Neto may well get his wish to see Viega start.
Whether Lopetegui takes the same action remains to be seen: Manchester United come visiting on Sunday in what is a crunch match for both managers. Will Lopetegui be brave enough to drop Paquetá? His stats alone against Spurs would suggest he’ll be on the bench and maybe that is what he, and we the fans, need right now until his fate and his focus & mental wellbeing get resolved.
It certainly looks as if he’s played his last international game until the Brazil parliamentary hearing gets underway. And then – who knows.
If Paqman comes on against Man U, I bet he’ll get a yellow card even if he only plays for a few minutes. LOL
Paqueta is not playing well enough to warrant a starting place with us, that’s looking at things purely from a form perspective. Our midfield is way too porous is our main problem and I see Paquetas current form as part of that problem. I’d drop him for Soler against Man Utd.
Would bench him and sub him on in the latter stages (70ish min), hopefully with hammers cheering him on and playing with confidence and ball control (wishful, but not impossible)