SOUCEK: IRONS NEEDED A SLAP
BY
TOMAS SOUCEK reckons last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Wolves was a timely reality check for West Ham.
It’s one he hopes will refocus the minds of David Moyes’s men ahead of what will arguably be their toughest week of the season – with Manchester City, Brighton and Chelsea in the space of seven days.
Soucek (right) said: “We didn’t play well at Wolves. Maybe it was a good slap in our face, a reminder that we need to be prepared for every game.
“We showed in the Europa League win against Rapid Vienna on
Thursday that we have come back well and now, hopefully, we can show the same at Manchester City.
“When we look at the table we are very happy, but we still have many games in front of us, and many hard games. Especially right now, we play City away, we play
Brighton in midweek, then we play Chelsea.
“One of the hardest weeks in
Last five in PL: Top PL scorer: the Premier League season and, after this, we can see where we are.”
The Hammers’ bright start to the season has drawn comparisons with Leicester’s 2015-16 titlemiracle campaign – ahead of that Wolves defeat, the Irons had 23 points after 11 games, compared to the glory Foxes’ 22 after 11.
But Soucek added: “We don’t want to be compared with Leicester and what happened five years ago. We want to go step by step, game by game.
“We cannot think about the title or about being top-four or top-eight. We want to go for all three competitions and then a fourth one in January – but it is always about the next game.
“Win, beat the opponent, and then after the season we can address how successful we have been.”
Soucek has been a key component in West Ham’s resurgence under Moyes, and although it might seem as though he isn’t as free-scoring this season, he’d also only scored once for the Hammers at this stage of the last campaign before going on to finish with 10 goals for his club.
He said: “Last year I had a lot of luck scoring, but I am more of a team player. If we continue doing well, I don’t need to score any other goals.”