Coufal’s assistance? He didn’t have a good centre before, it was his individual skills that moved him, explains former teammate

They were both a bit written off before the season, but Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal are doing very well in the Premier League. Vladimír Coufal has surpassed Tomáš Rosický in assists among the English elite, with 16 assists he is the third best Czech.

The story of Vladimir Coufal is similar to that of Tomáš Souček. Although he did not train in the park in Žižkov and without a salary, he was not wanted in Baník Ostrava. He also had to dig out his first league engagement in Liberec.

And even under Jested, the wheat didn’t blossom immediately. He didn’t play for many months and even after his breakthrough into the starting line-up, he was not praised. The centre that he has today, he has been gradually developing. To such a level that Jindřich Trpišovský took him to Slavia.

“Cuf had a bad centre when I came to Liberec. He was hitting the first players, not hitting the spaces. A lot of the credit goes to Trpišovský and Houštecky, who did the drills for him. Cuf then centred himself after training,” Zdeněk Folprecht recalled in the programme “Where the Hare Runs”.

Coufal came to Slavia as a finished player. This was evidenced by the fact that coach Trpišovský retrained Jan Bořil as a left-back because of him. Coufal took his chance in the base correctly and didn’t let it go.

When he left for West Ham after two years, Hammers fans were scared. But he persuaded and won them over. First with his passion for the game, then with his offensive play. Seven assists from his first season in the Premier League was clear evidence of how much the centre-back had improved.

“If I go as an average third-league footballer and drill centres for three months, I believe I will move up tremendously in six months. From the goal line, ten metres from the line, twenty, from deep and so,” continued the former Liberec and Sparta player.

Coufal’s honest drills are paying off even now. Before the start of the ninth round of the Premier League, he holds a streak of four league games with an assist. He did it against Sheffield, Manchester City, Liverpool and Newcastle. A decent list.

It’s a shame for the Czech nation that Coufal’s performances have failed to translate to the national jersey in the long term. There he seems to have lost his proverbial zeal, the constant desire to swing up and down, and played at half throttle.

Source: Where the Hare Runs