Arne Engels scored his first goal in West Ham United colours against Cardiff City in midweek. And it was no coincidence that it arrived moments after Scott Parker tweaked the Belgian’s role.

Speaking after the Hammers fought back from 3-0 down to avoid defeat against The Bluebirds, Parker revealed that he had instructed Engels and Divine Mukasa to make ‘dynamic runs from deep areas’.

“It was an amazing flick-on [from Piroe], and then you go one-v-one with the goalkeeper,” the £22 million signing said. “Something I am not really used to! I’m really glad to finally get a goal for West Ham and help the team with that.”

Arne Engels is finally playing in his old Celtic role for West Ham United

Three days later, as any hopes of a ‘new manager bounce’ were firmly extinguished, Engels came close on a couple of occasions to doubling his West Ham tally.

He wouldn’t, of course – a pair of efforts from outside the box fizzing just wide. But it was encouraging to see him try his luck. That he was in the position to try his luck in the first place was another positive sign.

Kevin Gallagher, capped 53 times by Scotland, watched Engels closely during his two seasons with Celtic. And when the 23-year-old set off on another ‘dynamic run from deep’ in the first-half at Ewood Park, he was reminded of Engels’ days in green and white.

“He did that at Celtic, that’s what he’s good at,” Gallacher, a Premier League winner with Blackburn Rovers in 1995, told BBC Radio Lancashire. “Running into the space.”

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill talked about losing Engels ‘running power’ when The Hoops finally accepted West Ham’s offer in August. The Club Brugge academy graduate excelled as a box-to-box number eight at Parkhead. Captain Callum McGregor would dictate things from deep, allowing his partner to push on and join the attack.

Head of Player Recruitment Nils Koppen highlighted Engels’ ‘engine’, meanwhile, and talked him up as the successor to Mateus Fernandes. The funny thing is, Nuno then managed to misprofile his £22 million marquee signing. Engels largely played as the deepest of Nuno’s midfielders. In short, Engels played the Callum McGregor role, rather than the role in which he excelled at Celtic.

Thankfully, this is a head-scratching tactical decision Scott Parker has already looked to fix. He scored his first goal against Cardiff, darting into space he seldom ever occupied under Nuno.

At Blackburn on Saturday, Engels had three shots at goal. He averaged 0.7 shots per game in West Ham’s previous 14 Championship matches. His tally stands at just one. But, under Nuno, it was easy to imagine Engels going an entire season without finding the net.