West Ham secured an excellent 1-0 way win over Belgian side Anderlecht in the Conference League on Thursday – and BT Sport have posted a video of Aaron Cresswell and Tomas Soucek reacting to a moment of class from Lucas Paqueta.
In what was a bit of an end-to-end match in the first half, neither side could find the right moment to take the lead. On-loan Wolves striker Fabio Silva was causing havoc for the Belgians, while Said Benrahma was proving wasteful.
With David Moyes keen to make it three wins from three in the group stage, he made three crucial changes on 70 minutes. Declan Rice, Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca replaced Benrahma, Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio.
It was Paqueta that slid a gorgeous pass into Scamacca, who finished expertly – scoring his fifth goal in 11 games. It was enough for the Hammers to hold on to a 1-0 win, seeing them take nine points from a possible nine in Group B.
But BT Sport captured a brilliant moment in which Brazil international Paqueta controlled a long ball with his back foot. In the background, subs Cresswell and Soucek react brilliantly – clearly, both impressed with their summer signing.
Video: Cresswell and Soucek react to moment of class from Paqueta
While it was a moment of genius from Paqueta, it was the Brazilian’s speed of thought that won the Hammers the game. Not only his, but also Scamacca. His pass into the Italian was inch-perfect – and Scamacca is in good form.
Quite remarkably, that was the club-record signing’s first goal involvement since swapping Lyon for the London Stadium. He has made a slow start to life in the Capital, during his first six games. But the assist will give him a boost.
West Ham take on Fulham on Sunday and given the way Scamacca and Paqueta changed the game, you would expect both players to be starting against the newly-promoted Londoners.
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