Coufal surprised the Ghent defence with a quick cross and contributed to his team’s opening goal. Fans are praising his return

West Ham fans are praising the Czech midfielder’s return to the starting line-up. Vladimír Coufal was instrumental in his team’s first goal in the Conference Europa League quarter-final. The match in Ghent ended in a draw.

Vladimír Coufal the hero of the first quarter-final of the ECL at Ghent

Tomáš Souček has been the subject of an avalanche of criticism among West Ham fans in recent weeks for his lacklustre performances. It was Vladimir Coufal who received a torrent of positive messages from them, even though he too has been criticised several times this season.

After dropping out of the squad in March due to a heel injury, he returned to the game during the national break. Although David Moyes did not use him in the following league game against Southampton, he was already in the starting line-up again in the weekend’s all-important win at Fulham.

He was also in the squad during yesterday’s quarter-final match at Ghent, Belgium, in which he was VAR twice. First, five minutes before the change of sides, he disallowed a goal by stopper Aguerdas, but West Ham went ahead.

It was Coufal who took advantage of the defence’s inattention in first-half stoppage time. He threw a quick pass to Jarrod Bowen, who found Danny Ings in front of an empty net, who just tapped the ball into the exposed net.

Ghent equalised shortly after the change of sides and could even have taken the three points, but Orban only scissor-kicked the crossbar. However, West Ham could have taken the win back at the very end of the game when the away side called for a penalty kick, but VAR decided to share the points.

His performance was praised by West Ham fans

It must be added that Coufal was the hero of the match in the eyes of West Ham fans, who received a great ovation on Twitter. Although some accused him of inaccuracy in the centres, his commitment to the game, support for the attack and combativeness won over the Hammers fans.

“Vladimir Coufal is slowly getting back to his best. At one point this season it was debatable who was West Ham’s best right-back. But now it’s undoubtedly Coufal,” Roshane Thomas praised the Czech international’s play.

“Coufal was bloody brilliant today,” wrote fan Paul. “Coufal is our best right back. Passion is exactly what we need right now, ” added Jason Hughes. “Vladimir Coufal is drastically improving this team, ” said the West Ham Central Twitter account.

Source: European Conference League, Twitter