Stop slandering Tomas Soucek, he is more important than you realise!

The treatment of Tomas Soucek from some West Ham fans this season has been nothing short of disgraceful given his importance to David Moyes’ side.

The once fan favourite has seen his fortunes change drastically for the worse in a campaign where West Ham find themselves teeteringly close to the relegation zone heading into Christmas.

Is it Soucek’s fault that the Hammers are in this position? No, but judging by the way fans have been treating him recently, you would have thought he was purposefully scoring own goals.

West Ham have struggled to replicate their stunning form from the past two seasons so SOME stick towards the team is justifiable. But the Czech midfielder always seems to get dug out at every opportunity. Granted some of his performances this season haven’t been great, but the team hasn’t exactly shone either.

When Soucek misplaces a pass or loses possession, the groans of discontent and frustration echo around the London Stadium but you won’t get half of that reaction if Declan Rice or Pablo Fornals do the same. An alarming number of fans have turned their backs quickly and seem to be desperately clinging to a narrative that Soucek has suddenly become a bad player.

This reached an all-time low when fans loudly cheered the 27-year-olds substitution in a 1-2 home loss to Crystal Palace. So much for looking after your own…

But how has it got to this point when it seems like just yesterday everyone’s favourite Czech bulldozer was scoring that precious equaliser against Sevilla in the Europa League?

Tomáš Souček’s game by numbers vs. Sevilla:

50 touches
7 duels won
5 clearances
5 touches in opp. box
4 take-ons attempted
3 take-ons completed
3 shots
3 tackles
3x possession won
2 shots on target

His first European goal for West Ham was a big one! #UEL pic.twitter.com/Mq57MFoTSs

— Squawka (@Squawka) March 17, 2022

What has changed?

There has been a lot of change at West Ham both on and off the pitch with nine new players arriving and several key figures departing including club captain Mark Noble and assistant manager Stuart Pearce.

The club is clearly in a transition period this summer, but it has been the progression of Declan Rice which seems to have impacted Soucek’s game the most.

Rice’s development has been phenomenal over the past three seasons, and he has grown into one of the best defensive midfielders in world football which has come at the Czech captain’s expense.

Soucek is a box-to-box midfielder and uses his high energetic work rate to thrive offensively as well as defensively. The engine he possesses allows him to make those late runs into the box to provide an attacking threat and helps him defend aggressively in the middle of the park, making tackles, interceptions and winning aerial duels.

When he first arrived at West Ham, he brought a spark in to a midfield that lacked energy and grit and so naturally he stood out and received plaudits. Rice would sit back, mop up defensively and give Soucek the license to make those dangerous offensive runs which have benefited the Hammers so much.

This is similar to the system that Rice plays so well in for Gareth Southgate’s England team, where the West Ham captain sits back and does the dirty work to allow Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham free attacking will.

As Rice has improved, he has been driving further up the pitch in games, trying to push West Ham forward meaning Soucek has been gradually forced to stay back – something that does not suit his style of play.

The 22-year-olds marauding attacking runs are effective and exciting to watch but they rarely bare the fruit of goals. It isn’t his primary role, but Rice has a poor attacking record for a player of his talents with just 22 goal contributions in his 215 appearances in all competitions. Whereas Soucek has managed 25 contributions, 21 of which are goals, in just 125 club appearances – it is a massive part of his game to score and create chances.

Rice’s progression up the pitch has benefited West Ham at times but it also makes the team vulnerable. When Soucek sits to accommodate the Englishman, he has the ball at his feet more and there is a lot more pressure on his passing which is not his strongest attribute.

On several occasions Rice has been caught out of position or Soucek has given the ball away in the midfield and West Ham have then conceded as a result. Rice going forward has hurt the team at times and is limiting both Soucek and the 22-year-olds performances together.

Naturally Rice wants to attack more and put his talent to use but he is more suited to the holding role at West Ham due to his agility on the ball, and his ability to connect play. This then makes Soucek more beneficial to the team by giving him the freedom to get stuck in and throw himself into the box to score goals.

Fans can be fickle and when the goals dry up for players who were frequently scoring, they will start to forget the positives and focus on the negatives. Soucek has scored just once this season in a 1-1 draw against Spurs and the correlation between his lack of goals and his new unsuitable role should be clear to see.

It is great that both players have the ability to create attacking opportunities in their different ways as it will allow Moyes some tactical fluidity, but it will benefit the team more if Rice replicates the role he excels at for England at club level so that Soucek can be set free of his shackles.

Confidence is massive for footballers. If you’re low on confidence, then you won’t perform to your best or do the things you would usually do so well. Paired with the fact that Soucek’s strengths are being somewhat sacrificed for Rice, it’s not a surprise to see that he has been performing below standard.

The incident against Palace will have certainly made that a whole lot worse.

The Stats

His lack of goals this season is noticeable, but this does not make him a bad player in fact Soucek is still one of Moyes’ key men.

To show that Soucek is receiving unfair criticism I have compared his stats with Rice who has been West Ham’s best player this season. Flynn Downes has only played five games in the Premier League whilst Lucas Paqueta and Pablo Fornals operate further forward so the Englishman was the most realistic comparison.

The statistics above show just how important Soucek is to West Ham’s midfield, even when he’s being played in an adapted role. If Soucek had scored five or more goals this season, then he would not be getting the same treatment from the fans.

Unfortunately, in modern football goals trump everything and fans start to ignore the dirty work that makes teams tick. Rice’s style of play is more attractive on the eye compared to Soucek’s, which also helps explain why he has been going under the radar.

Soucek has been of paramount importance to the Hammers since signing from Slavia Prague in January 2020. His performances in the second half of that god awful season kept West Ham in the Premier League and helped lay the foundations for the stunning two campaigns which followed.

His goals and performances helped West Ham qualify for European football in back-to-back seasons, something that fans could barely dream of and his role in the run to the Europa League semi-finals was unquestionable.

So, does a player who has done so much for a club deserve all this unnecessary hate from fans? Absolutely not.

With West Ham lingering around the bottom of the Premier League table heading into a busy festive period, David Moyes would do well to switch things up and revert the system to how Soucek and Rice used to play.

Rice will be returning from the World Cup in Qatar, hopefully as a winner, and it would be smart for Moyes to make the Englishman’s role at club level the same. It will help him slot straight back into the fold and it will allow Soucek regain his best form ahead of the busy festive period.

West Ham need their best players to return to hit the ground running and Soucek is certainly still one of Moyes’ key assets.