Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Callum Wilson hit the target as West Ham United stunned Nottingham Forest, but City Ground boss Nuno Espirito Santo felt another of Graham Potter’s players made the truly decisive contribution.
In truth, while former Hammers centre-back Matthew Upson opted for Lucas Paqueta while watching on from the commentary gantry, picking the stand-out performer in white is no easy task.
Konstantinos Mavropanos and Max Kilman protected the recently-maligned Mads Hermansen like two giant, burly security guards. Kyle Walker-Peters dealt excellently with the threat of Callum Hudson-Odoi, while El Hadji Malick Diouf followed up some superb back-post defending with a second Premier League assist, a trademark booming cross converted by Callum Wilson.
Jarrod Bowen’s opening goal was ‘world-class’, Upson said. Mateus Fernandes delighted the Hammers fans on a lively debut. And a relieved Graham Potter paid tribute to an ‘incredible’ Lucas Paqueta as the Brazilian put those Aston Villa rumours to one side.
Nuno Espirito Santo, though, feels that the tide really turned when Potter introduced Crysencio Summerville off the bench for his first West Ham United appearance in seven months.
Nuno Espirito Santo labels Crysencio Summerville West Ham United’s gamechanger
If the £30 million winger was feeling a little rusty after so long on the sidelines, he didn’t show it.
Only two minutes after replacing Fernandes, Summerville danced through a forest of Forest legs before assisting Bowen.
Summerville then drew a desperate foul from Ibrahim Sangare inside the penalty area, before another trademark burst of acceleration set Diouf away as Wilson ensured the visitors would walk away with three goals as well as three points.
“We played the way West Ham wanted us to play. [They took advantage] of our mistakes and they were well organised. We made mistakes that really punished us and took the game away,” Nuno sighed after Nottingham Forest suffered their first defeat of the new campaign.
“Especially Summerville, the speed that Graham [introduced] caused problems. When you want to chase [a goal], you leave space in behind and places with speed are difficult to control.”
Summerville had not been seen in a West Ham jersey since January, due to a long-standing hamstring issue.
Anton Ferdinand felt that Summerville could become Mohammed Kudus’ ‘readymade replacement’ if he rediscovered the form which earned him the 2024 Championship Player of the year award at Elland Road, though, and this scintillating cameo felt like a belated coming-of-age moment in his East London home.
“We were in control and dominant and should have done some things better,” Nuno added, via Hayters. “The second half was bad.
“We got unbalanced and [were distracted with the] urgency to chase the result and not be careful. Summerville created some problems.”
Graham Potter ‘delighted’ as Hammers stun Nottingham Forest
Suddenly, with Soungoutou Magassa joining Mateus Fernandes, with Paqueta seemingly staying put, and Wilson and Summerville demonstrating that Potter has a few game-changing substitutes to call upon, things feel a whole lot happier in the Hammers camp.
“I’m delighted for the players, delighted for the team,” Potter beams. “They showed the quality they have, they showed the togetherness and the connection that they’ve had. That, of course, comes under doubt when people lose trust and confidence because the results haven’t been what we wanted.
“But always the team have been fighting for each other and I’m really proud of them for that.
“I thought we always carried a threat. The game wasn’t high-quality but I think that was down to our organisation and our defensive solidity, and then it is great for the subs to come on and impact the game. To score three goals away from home is just brilliant for us.”
