By Hughie Southon
Tomas Soucek – like most around him in claret and blue – found himself outgunned against Manchester City team who look well en route for another massive title tilt this season.
Soucek on the bench
And as a result Irons fans had a very early seasonal reminder of what they face as they bid to break into the Premier League top four.
The reality sadly, was that the Hammers were nowhere near good enough to win a game in which the Mancs were awesome over 90 minutes, often looking as though they may overwhelm a Hammers team which David Moyes had admitted were “not ready ahead of the game.
Soucek was not good during a match in which the opposition’s midfield swamped the Hammers although there were moments in the second half when the team threatened.
But afterwards talking to www.whufc.com Soucek admitted that the Hammers deserved nothing from the opening game of the season.
The Czech Republic international said: “The game didn’t go the way we wanted. We had a good first couple of minutes and created a chance from the corner, but after that we weren’t where we wanted to be.
“We deserved to lose today. It was a big game for us as our first one and we need to [up our levels] for the next one.”
Among the positives for the Hammers was a debut from the bench for summer arrival Gianluca Scamacca and Souček is looking forward to seeing more of the Italian as he settles into life in east London.
“It’s good for us and for him,” he continued. “He got his first minutes today and I hope he adds many more and helps us get results.
“We need to improve everything and get ready for Nottingham Forest.”
Spot on Thomas, they toyed with us and made it look easy playing in triangles, I thought as well the first 10 minutes or so we were competitive, as Moyes also said we didn’t adapt to their new system, we rarely were able to string two or three passes together and need players like Zielinski or Ruiz that can resist the press, hold onto the ball, control play and pass, Rice and Soucek aren’t tose although Rice does hold onto the ball better than most and is at that level Soucek is great at breaking up play but less comfortable under pressure, whatever is happening in discussions with these players our failure to get deals done isn’t acceptable, quality comes at a price and it’s above our normal pay grade so we need to change the model to accomodate higher quality first team players, without them we are competing for 6th and 7th probably 7th each season. Come on GSBK Moyes has built the foundation it’s upto you to seal the deals to deliver on the promises you made when we moved.
Yes brutally we were just not good enough but why exactly? Yes Harland is world class and yes City are well, City – the champions! That said we fielded almost our best (fresh-legged!??) team from last year (apart from having to put Ben Johnson at CB) and they came up way shorter than they should have. The manager tells us were not ready – why is that David?
I mean you’re in charge!
We still haven’t solved the Rice/Soucek issue, and for long periods Soucek looked lost as the play passed him by. Similarly, Forlans ran and ran but to no purpose. Still there was no tactical substitution moves by the manager