By Daniel Luker

When Nuno arrived at West Ham, it was clear he wanted to make Lucas Paquetá his star man, but I think it’s time for a change.

The way Nuno talks about Lucas is what every Hammers fan thought he needed to become the player we know he can be.

I thought playing into his ego, making him feel like the most important and the best player at the club, would help him play like it, but it just hasn’t and isn’t going to happen.

For whatever reason, Paqueta is never going to live up to his potential in East London. Whether it’s his effort levels, something mentally, or maybe he’s just not as talented as we’re led to believe.

Whatever it is, we can’t rely on his ‘brilliance’ we’ve never really seen in his over 3 years at the club. One player who is showing brilliance at the moment is Mateus Fernandes, and he has done for a while now.

Despite the teams form, the 21-year-old has been nothing short of sensational. And he was just that once again against Fulham

() vs Fulham:

* MOST DRIBBLES (3)

* MOST DUELS WON (9)

* 88% Pass Accuracy

* 11 Def. Contributions

* 9 Passes Into Final Third

* 6/7 Long Balls

* 100% Succ. Crosses

* 4 Tackles

* 5 Ball Recoveries

To put it simply, Mateus Fernandes is Lucas Paquetá without the ego. He has a lot of the same qualities as a player; he’s skilful, he’s strong, he’s effective defensively and is able to use his body to beat a man in the dribble.

Mateus Fernandes wants to be here, he’s playing a lot better than him, he’s younger and most importantly it’s clear he wants to fight. He wants to keep us in the Premier League, Paqueta will be off no matter what in the summer, he probably doesn’t care what league we’re in.

Nuno Espírito Santo needs to do everything he’s doing for Paquetá for Fernandes. Make him the creative hub of the team, big him up in the media, make him feel like the most important and valuable player at the club.

To be fair Nuno doesn’t have to do all of that with Fernandes he gives his all already, it may only up his game slightly. We just have play him as the most advanced midfielder and he will make the team tick a lot more than Paqueta.

One of our biggest problems is lack of talent and difference makers on the bench. Leaving Paquetá on the bench, or starting him on the left and leaving Summerville on the bench could actually help us.

On so many occasions we’ve needed a game-changing attacking sub and there’s been no one. Not starting one of those two players could actually improve us over a 90 minute period and might help us actually win a game of football, which would be nice for a change.