Tomas Soucek looks to be back to his best for West Ham, and his renaissance speaks volumes about the Czech midfielder’s powers of recovery.
Like many, I had marked Soucek down as one of the first out the door upon the appointment of Julen Lopetegui. The midfielder was very much an eight-player built in the mould of former manager David Moyes, and I didn’t believe he would be adaptable enough to play in a more possession-based side.
However, I am delighted to say that I have been proven wrong, and the current version of Big Sou is far closer to the player we signed in desperation nearly five years ago. At that time, Moyes was firefighting and staring down the barrel of relegation, needing a goal-scoring midfielder to help the Hammers out of the mess.
Soucek initially joined on loan, but he was so successful that the transfer was made permanent, which was something of a no-brainer at the time. Throughout his West Ham career, Tomas’s role changed somewhat, most famously to accommodate the expanding game of academy graduate Declan Rice.
The box-to-box goal-scoring midfielder was turned into an auxiliary central defensive midfielder who was mandated to protect the goalkeeper far more than get into the opposition box.
And that really is where I expected the Soucek story to end. It had appeared that the positional switch had killed off any traces of the goal-scoring midfielder West Ham had signed in January 2020.
The 29-year-old has spent the past three years being assessed for what he couldn’t do rather than what he could, and I suspected his Hammers days were numbered. But to my surprise, the big fella has bounced back and now looks more like the 25-year-old version of himself who used to cause havoc among opposition defences.
There were many other players who stole the limelight in West Ham’s 4-1 victory against Ipswich last weekend, and rightly so. But whilst Kudus, Bowen, Antonio, and Todibo were dominating the column inches, Soucek was quietly going about his business.
Once again, he repeatedly got into dangerous positions in the opposition box, and his quick-thinking forward pass was instrumental in West Ham scoring the opener within the first minute. Soucek was also on hand to head the ball into the Ipswich net before Kudus snuck in and scored an important goal for himself.
Of course, there was his usual never-say-die running and unselfish commitment to the cause. But there were also a number of forward passes, including one particular Beckham-like cross-field pass that created a good attacking opportunity down West Ham’s left flank.
Most importantly, Julen Lopetegui trusts Soucek, and that says everything you need to know about his adaptability and staying power. As things stand, Soucek is the Hammers’ joint top scorer, and I wouldn’t bet against him netting plenty more.
He’ll never be easy on the eye like Kevin De Bruyne but Soucek has been instrumental in the Hammers journey that resulted in our first trophy win in over 4 decades and his story hasn’t finished yet.
As you know, Gonzo, I’ve been one of those highlighting what he cannot do, because I firmly believe that those flaws, effectively costing us a midfield, cost the team more than his benefits. It has been like playing with 10 men, which explains our low possession stats.
But, he played really well on Saturday, and a little glimmer of hope has returned that he can get back to the player we all fell in love with when he arrived.
Because make no mistake, he’s obviously a kind and full-hearted lad, and we all want him to succeed. It’s not a character assassination – he has a job to do and hasn’t been doing it. His effort is never in doubt and his ability to finish is brilliant. If his passing was a good as his finishing, he’d be a £70m player.
So, I think it’s a little early to believe he’s on his way to becoming a legend – but I sincerely hope Saturday wasn’t a flash in the pan and he’s truly on his way back to his best.
Souchek finally getting recognition for his game. He was great last season too. Scored loads of important goals. No way we would have finished 9th without him.
No, he was woeful last season. Check the stats.
FFS! Never has such a donkey been an ever present 🤦♂️
christ some of our fans are over the top. you’ve got to be kidding mate. how young are you? or, if you’ve been with us for a long time, you obviously haven’t payed one iota of attention. you and yer mate who commented first. what garbage!
You’re entitled to your opinion, Rollercoaster. The fact that isn’t wrong is up to others to decide. 😉
Well, I goosed that one up, didn’t I? The fact that it IS wrong… Dear me. If only I could type as well as Soucek survives in our team…
The fact this conversation is still going on and the need of the pro Soucek fraternity to plug what attributes he has to justify his place in the team speaks volumes.
I also remember one post match synopsis – I think it was after a 4 – 0 gubbing off Brighton slaughtering the guy for having played 90 minutes and having less than double figure touches – As said many times lovely fellah – very bad footballer