Tomas Soucek is brilliant for West Ham in how he elevates others

Tomas Soucek hasn’t been at West Ham for long. But already he’s vital to the way the club plays and how others have an impact on the pitch.

When West Ham signed Tomas Soucek in January, mostly we were happy that he was going to add to our depth in midfield and be less of an injury concern than our most recent arrivals. However, since then, he’s gone from strength to strength, proving himself a midfield enforcer and a constant goal threat from set-pieces and open play.

Box to Box

For his direct impact, he is the definition of a box to box player. He supports Declan Rice in his defensive duties in the middle, but by the time the ball is up the other end he’s adding another body into the box. And at 6 ft 4, he’s not exactly an inconsequential body either. So much so he’s getting a fair following in Fantasy Premier League for a cheap midfielder.

The benefit of a box to box player, whilst not adding all of the stability of another holding midfielder or the creativity of a traditional number ten, is that they do their best to support players doing those roles and make themselves harder to pick up. You can deal with a stationary number ten by sticking a defensive midfielder on them all game, but someone covering a lot of distance is harder to mark out. And that means that he allows other West Ham players to shine as well.

Impact on others

To see what extra he brings to West Ham even when he doesn’t score himself, you only have to look at the first goal against Leicester. Because he makes the run in to join Michail Antonio in attacking the ball, the Leicester defence has to track him as well. This means that when the ball goes over the top, Antonio has more space than he otherwise would put the header back past Kasper Schmeichel. At 1-0 up we’re suddenly in control of the game flow, and on our way to a very good win.

His work rate in the middle also gives more licence to players like Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen to push forward, safe in the knowledge that Soucek will be able to help cover back on their side. Would Fornals have made that run forward for our second at the weekend if he had been more worried about defensive duties? Or taken that quick free-kick against Wolves if he’d been more concerned about players being caught too far forward? Soucek playing gives players the confidence to take things on.

So, whilst he hasn’t scored or assisted too many this season, Soucek is key to all of our play. Let’s hope he can continue the great play we’ve seen in weeks to come.