West Ham plan to offer Lucas Paquet\u00e1 access to psychological support in response to the midfielder\u2019s red card for dissent against Liverpool on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Although Paquet\u00e1\u2019s behaviour has not gone down well with several figures at the London Stadium, there is also concern that the Brazil international is struggling to cope with the strain of being left in limbo for two years during a Football Association investigation into spot-fixing allegations. The prospect of a lifetime ban hung over the 28-year-old, who was cleared of the Football Association charges in July<\/a>, and the incident against Liverpool has left West Ham looking for ways to improve the player\u2019s frame of mind.<\/p>\n West Ham do not view Paquet\u00e1\u2019s anger with the authorities as an excuse for him collecting two yellow cards, both for dissent, within seconds of one another during the 2-0 defeat against the Premier League champions<\/a>. There has been internal criticism of Paquet\u00e1, whose dismissal came with Liverpool only leading 1-0. It is felt at West Ham that he let down his teammates.<\/p>\n However the club, who stood by Paquet\u00e1 while he was under investigation by the FA, feel the situation is nuanced. One figure said Paquet\u00e1 has been left \u201cbitter and let down\u201d by the investigation, argued that the pressure got to him and added that the former Lyon midfielder would find it easier to move on from the ordeal if he is provided with psychological support. West Ham, only out of the bottom three on goal difference, will discuss this week how to help the Brazilian regain his focus on the pitch.<\/p>\n Paquet\u00e1, who came close to being sent off for dissent when West Ham lost against Leeds in October<\/a>, has made no secret of his unhappiness. The South American, who will be suspended when Nuno Esp\u00edrito Santo\u2019s struggling side visit Manchester United on Thursday, posted on social media<\/a> after the Liverpool game to hit out at football\u2019s authorities for failing to provide him with psychological support. The FA has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n Writing in Portuguese, Paquet\u00e1 said: \u201cI understand that now I have to come across as the villain; it\u2019s hard to live with everything that\u2019s been caused in my life and in my psyche! I\u2019ll keep trying to ensure they don\u2019t affect me even more. This doesn\u2019t justify my expulsion, and for that I apologise to the fans and my teammates!\u201d<\/p>\n This was followed by a reply to a post from the Sky Sports Premier League account, which featured a clip where Robert Green, the former West Ham goalkeeper on punditry duty for the broadcaster, referring to his red card as \u201cridiculous behaviour\u201d. This time writing in English, Paquet\u00e1 posted: \u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous to have your life and career affected for two years without any psychological support from the federation. Perhaps this ridiculous behaviour is just a reflection of everything I\u2019ve had to endure and, it seems, have to continue enduring! I\u2019m sorry if I\u2019m not perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n West Ham have taken note of the posts and are not underestimating their significance. At this stage there is little indication of them looking to discipline Paquet\u00e1 for his red card. There is, however, a point when their sympathy will run out. They are in a relegation battle and are looking to Paquet\u00e1, who is one of their most influential players, to lead them to safety. However the playmaker\u2019s form remains inconsistent and there are some who feel that West Ham should look to raise funds for new signings by selling him in January.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The question for Nuno to consider is whether the odd flash of inspiration and creativity is enough from the club\u2019s record signing. Paquet\u00e1 has four goals in all competitions this season and has not provided an assist since March 2024. His disciplinary record is also a concern; he has already served a one-match ban for accumulating five bookings this season.<\/p>\n Another worry for West Ham is why Paquet\u00e1\u2019s teammates did not do more to prevent him from confronting the referee Darren England over his decision to award a free-kick for a foul by Niclas F\u00fcllkrug. It has not gone unnoticed that the Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker made the biggest effort to drag Paquet\u00e1 away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Ham plan to offer Lucas Paquet\u00e1 access to psychological support in response to the midfielder\u2019s red card…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-322462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}