SOUCEK: CLARETS WILL PAY PENALTY
TOMAS SOUCEK says West Ham must take out their frustration on Burnley after the Hammers felt shortchanged by late penalty drama in Europe.
The Czech powerhouse (above) claimed Spanish referee Alejandro Hernandez’s explanation for denying the Eastenders a stoppage-time reprieve from the spot in their 1-0 Europa League defeat here simply didn’t stack up.
But Soucek admitted West Ham will need to play with more gusto in the return leg against Freiburg next Thursday to reach the quarter-finals – and the struggling Clarets may cop the backlash at the London Stadium tomorrow.
He said: “We are disappointed because we didn’t play well enough.
“We still had a couple of chances and we lost by one goal. We have to get even more ready and hungry for the next leg.
“It is important we win against Burnley. We have to be ready for the second leg because we beat Freiburg twice in the group.
“We wanted to do it again. I remember how we played them at home, we were on fire, so we have to do that again to go through.”
Soucek was the Hammers player involved in the late penalty controversy in
Germany, where Freiburg sub Noah Weisshaupt clearly handled the ball with his arm raised above his head.
Hernandez was sent to the pitchside monitor and stunned West Ham by refusing to award a spot-kick, and Soucek scowled: “The referee told me something and it wasn’t true.
“He told me that the defender played the ball onto his hand on his own and that I didn’t touch the ball. It was the opposite – I checked the video and I saw that I played the ball onto his hand.
“I don’t know why it isn’t a penalty but it is the referee who made the decision.
“But it’s gone now and it’s very important that we don’t let it distract us.
“We did two wins in a row in the league and now we have Burnley on Sunday, and we want another then to get ready for the Europa League.
“We have more confidence when we win.”
Irrespective of whether it was a penalty, West Ham (boss David Moyes, above) should not have been relying on VAR to dig them out of a hole against a mid-table Bundesliga side.
They gave the ball away too often in Freiburg and Soucek added: “It is so important because we want to fight for Europe in the Premier League as well.
“Next year we want to be here again. It is difficult, but I am hungry to do it.”