Big criticism of Soucek. Don’t let him play anymore, the fans demanded. In an unusual position, he was substituted after half-time

Tomas Soucek has been a hero to West Ham fans for almost his entire career, but now he is facing a lot of criticism. He had a very bad game at Fulham and was substituted at half-time, something the fans were demanding in abundance.

• Soucek came on against Fulham on the sub
• He was substituted at half-time
• After the game he faced a lot of criticism from the fans

In January 2020, West Ham were at the bottom of the Premier League table and facing a difficult spring as they battled for relegation. However, it secured that very early on and even catapulted to the top of the table the following season, playing in the Europa League and then the Conference, which it also won.

To what can the Hammers owe the change? According to then coach David Moyes, it was Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal, who he said brought a hunger to win and greater coaching professionalism to the club.

In four and a half years, Soucek netted 27 goals in the Premier League, adding six more in the cups. All from the position of defensive midfielder. The Czech footballer was admired by fans for his great attitude and tireless combativeness.

But in the summer a change came. David Moyes, for whom Soucek was an irreplaceable player, was replaced by Julen Lopetegui and the position of the lanky midfielder weakened. The Spanish coach relies more on more technical players, and he also brought Argentine Guido Rodriguez, a recent World Cup and Copa América winner, from Betis to fill Soucek’s position.

In the first round, Soucek started in the starting lineup alongside Rodriguez, but it was last year’s stalwart Edson Álvarez who was unavailable. In the second round, however, Lopetegui had already bet on the South American pairing of Álvarez – Rodriguez. After the national break, West Ham played at Fulham and the Spanish strategist reached for an unexpected option.

Let Soucek play no more!

He kept Álvarez and Rodriguez next to each other, but instead of Paqueta he put Tomas Soucek in the midfielder position. The defensive worker had already played in the Hammers’ jersey, right after his arrival over Rico and Noble. However, it was soon realised that Soucek was better below and replaced the West Ham captain.

The more offensive role didn’t suit him this time either. Soucek played one of his worst games in a London jersey, getting only eight passes in the first half, with a woeful 50% success rate. Twice more he lost the ball cheaply.

West Ham fans gave him a hard time on social media. “Please don’t ever play Soucek again,” several of them wrote sharply. “I have absolutely nothing against Soucek, but he really has no quality at the moment and he doesn’t fit the style we want to play. It’s bizarre that Lopetegui is still fielding him,” wrote the WHU Centre account.

“It is incomprehensible that Soucek continues to play. He was awful in the first half,” wrote another Hammers supporter. “Playing with Soucek today was like playing with ten men,” complained another West Ham fan.

Coach Lopetegui couldn’t help but notice the poor performance of the Czech captain. He substituted Soucek at half-time and sent on Paqueta. West Ham then at least tied the game 1-1 thanks to Ings.

Source: West Ham, Premier League