West Ham have not been doing well since Daniel Kretinsky joined! How did the Czech national team do on Boxing Day?

West Ham are not having a very good season and the proverbial Boxing Day hasn’t helped. Czech fans are of course noticing the connection of the bad results with the entry of Daniel Křeřínský. Since the arrival of the Czech billionaire, who owns Sparta Prague domestically, the Hammers have won only twice out of ten games.

West Ham lost 2-3 to Southampton on Boxing Day and are now sixth in the Premier League table. Both ex-Slavs Vladimír Coufal and Tomáš Souček played for the Hammers, especially the latter gave a decent performance. The captain of the Czech national team was one of West Ham’s highest rated players.

What is to blame for the significant drop in form? One factor may be the very demanding schedule and relatively narrow squad. David Moyes does not have adequate replacements for key players and therefore the Hammers’ key figures may be overstretched.

Another factor may simply be a decline in sporting form and the proverbial blanket that now lies over West Ham. It is a physical and mental decline of the entire collective that must be broken by force of will. The positive news is that the “blanket” can be thrown off on Tuesday against Watford.

Some Czech fans feel differently about the recent poor results. According to them, the new West Ham owner Daniel Křetínský may be the bearer of the bad results. The football cynic Neobjektive Novinář did not forgive the remark about one of the richest Czechs.

English fans of West Ham perceive the current performances of their charges negatively, but they also wonder about the very strict penalty that was ordered after Craig Dawson’s (un)foul. If it was a foul, the first contact with the opposing team came from outside the penalty area. Look for yourself!

Rating of Vladimír Coufal and Tomáš Souček

How did the prestigious statistics server WhoScored evaluate the performances of the Czech national team? Vladimír Coufal is average and Tomáš Souček is one of West Ham’s best players. Let’s take a look at their detailed match stats together, starting from the back.

Vladimir Coufal got a WhoScored rating of 6.07, he had 62 touches of the ball during the game and his passing success rate reached 72%.

As far as offensive stats are concerned, the Czech defender had one successful dribble, was fouled once and was caught offside once. Defensively, he scored one personal fumble and intercepted an opponent’s pass.

Tomáš Souček was awarded a 6.96 rating and was the third highest scoring West Ham player. He had 53 touches of the ball during the match and his passing success rate was 71%.

Soucek got one finish, made one key pass and scored one successful dribble. The Czech defensive midfielder also won 6 header duels, the second highest number ever of any player on the pitch.

Defensively, he had better numbers than the vaunted Declan Rice. Twice he intercepted an opponent’s pass and once in a foot to foot duel he fought the ball back into West Ham’s possession. He also notched two clearances from potentially dangerous areas (for the Hammers).

Sources