West Ham have got off to a poor start this season and Tomas Soucek has stood out for the wrong reasons so far.
In the Hammers’ three Premier League games so far the club are without a win, a point and even a goal.
The whole team has been disappointing but Soucek has struggled and many fans are now calling for him to be dropped.
West Ham have started the Premier League season poorly, and it could be bad news for Tomas Soucek especially.
When the Czech midfielder was signed he was integral in keeping the side in the top flight along with fellow January addition Jarrod Bowen.
His first full season at the club was even better, the 27-year-old netted 10 goals and won the Hammer of the Year award. He was brilliant, a threat in both boxes, constant running, putting his body on the line and playing with passion.
Last season his lack of quality on the ball began to show. West Ham were a pure counter attacking and set piece side but opponents realised this and last campaign more teams sat back against the David Moyes’ men. As a result, the emphasis was on them to break sides down and work the ball with good passing. Soucek began to get exposed as un-confident with the ball at his feet regularly being tackled, picking wrong passes and not progressing the ball into the attack well enough.
West Ham noticed this and were interested in both Amadou Onana and Piotr Zielinski but deals haven’t materialised and now an out of form Soucek is in midfield and he is finding it tough.
The loss to Brighton highlighted the issues. Brighton pressed him well and he only completed 50% of his passes in the first-half breaking down his own team’s attacks regularly. His lack of speed was also exposed, Brighton’s players simply overran him and with Declan Rice not at his best he couldn’t get partially carried.
Soucek’s positioning was also poor, he didn’t drop into areas to receive the ball or put enough tackles in which is normally one of his strengths. He was by passed in the midfield and he seems to be more comfortable in front of the ball, which isn’t good as a central midfielder. Typically, he did nearly score with a header coming closest for West Ham in the game but it was still a bad display.
Now, fans are calling for him to be dropped and Moyes to change tactics. There is a feeling amongst supporters that West Ham have been found out. Goals from corners have even dried up, therefore as has Soucek’s goals. It’s not just this slow beginning, the Irons have won just one of their last ten league matches and nine of their last 27 to look beyond the small sample size.
Moyes must make tweaks to his side and Soucek could be one to go. For better ball control Pablo Fornals or Manuel Lanzini could drop deeper. Or, there could be a chance for new signing Flynn Downes. Something must change but we know Soucek is rarely taken out the side by Moyes because he loves his physical and aerial presence.
The boss hinted post-match after the defeat versus the Seagulls that he is trying to change playing style a tad to become more possession based. Soucek can surely not stay in the side then!