Vladi Coufal was back to his very best last night and surely booked himself in again as the Number One right back.
Ben Johnson has done extraordinarily well but the 29 year old Czech was different class night last night when quality was often missing.
No complaints with the manager showing his faith in Ben on that side over a few games but both ends of the Czech defender’s game were superb last night and with a touch more luck may have created or scored a goal.
Like the rest of us he was dismal over the end result when but for a stupendous strike we would have taken the points.
And talking to West Ham Tv he said: “It definitely wasn’t our game.
“We can do better for sure, but during the first half, we were still leading 1-0, and in the second half, early on, we scored a second goal.
“I don’t know if it should be disallowed or not, but for me, it took too long to make a decision… and in the end we conceded a very, for me, easy goal, because they had one player fewer.
“To be honest, it was an unbelievable finish [from Maupay] with the bicycle kick, but it was too easy. We needed to put in a challenge and try to stop it… so it’s very difficult to speak about it.
“To be honest, we didn’t play well, especially in the first half. Maybe we didn’t deserve to take the lead, but it happened.
“This kind of game we need to win, especially with the many chances that we created. It’s very difficult to take, for me.
“You cannot push teams high when you lose the ball, so it was difficult for us and we need to work on this.”
Pic via www.whufc.com
Nevertheless, the advantage of a crowded fixture schedule is that Coufal and his teammates will not have long to linger upon the final result.
A London derby against Premier League leaders Chelsea is up next at London Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
The Irons have enjoyed a good record against high-flying teams at home so far this season, defeating the likes of Liverpool in the Premier League and Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on home soil.
Coufal added: “We know who we are going to play on Saturday, and it will be a very difficult game because Chelsea are impressive this season.
“Since [Chelsea manager] Thomas Tuchel arrived, they have improved so much, so it will be a very difficult game and we will try to prepare ourselves to beat them.
“Of course, we are hoping the fans will support us on Saturday, like they have the whole season so far.
“We are looking forward to seeing them, and we will try to do our best to beat Chelsea and make their weekend happy.”
Should have been in the team weeks ago.
Offers far more going forward and is equally as good in the defensive work. Johnson so ponderous going forward and cannot take a thrown on at all.
A little harsh on Johnson in my view, but do agree Coufal offers much more going forwards.