WEST HAM star El Hadji Malick Diouf revealed that childhood pictures of each player were displayed as a motivational tactic ahead of Sunday’s win over Newcastle.
The Hammers finally ended their barren run at London Stadium by clinching their first home triumph since February with a 3-1 victory over the Toon.
Diouf, 20, played the full 90 minutes as West Ham also earned their first win under boss Nuno Espirito Santo.
After the match, the left-back shared a picture to his Instagram Story of a display featuring West Ham stars as children.
The Senegalese ace wrote: “Well done lads +3.”
Fans enjoyed the gesture, with one writing on X: “Lovely little touch to get the boys motivated.”
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Hammers finally get first home win in more than 8 months
While a second gushed: “Nuno channelling his Ted Lasso.. Beautiful idea.”
Another added: “Love it. Get them remembering why they do what they do for a living.”
Diouf has impressed the West Ham faithful since arriving from Slavia Prague in the summer.
The flying full-back has already laid on three assists in his first 10 Prem appearances.
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Newcastle took the lead on just four minutes when Jacob Murphy arrowed an excellent shot into the bottom corner just moments after Jarrod Bowen had struck the post for the hosts.
Lucas Paqueta levelled with a shot from range on 35 minutes, before Sven Botman turned into his net on the stroke of half-time.
As Newcastle desperately pushed for an equaliser, Tomas Soucek eventually bundled in a third in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
After the match, Espirito Santo said: “I think to win the way we did it, I think for us it’s to realise how important it is that we have to be organised, how important it is to work off the ball and how important it is to be compact, to be together, to not allow teams to play freely.
“Because after we have the ball we can consider and go forward, but as long as we are basically compact and solid in the way we want to approach the competition, in the Premier League especially, we cannot afford to not work harder, to sacrifice ourselves.
“So that was the message and that’s the way the boys [need to play].”
West Ham remain in the relegation zone, but climbed to within three points of 17th place Burnley.
The Hammers will be back in action on Saturday when they host their former captain Scott Parker‘s Clarets.
