Tomas Soucek might be universally loved throughout the West Ham fanbase, but there have been periods over the last year where his presence in the team has led to an element of frustration.
The Czech midfielder was David Moyes’ first signing upon the manager’s return to the club in January 2020 and it’s fair to say he remains one of the most important recruits in the club’s modern history.
Soucek has gone on to make 216 first-team appearances, score 34 goals and lay on 11 assists in a West Ham shirt. His 29 Premier League goals have won the club 25 points over the last four-and-a-half seasons, while six of those have come after the 80th minute of games. Just his Premier League contribution alone puts him up there as a significant influence on the journey the club has been on since 2020.
Then you have to consider his influence on our European exploits during that period, too. He has now made more appearances in Europe than anyone in the club’s entire history (32), he scored that crucial first goal against Sevilla on that famous night under the lights in Stratford and, don’t forget, it was his miss-kick that allowed Lucas Paqueta to gain possession and play in Jarrod Bowen for the winner in the Conference League final.
If he’d have made proper contact with the ball in that moment, it’s very likely we wouldn’t have had that moment of sheer joy, relief and emotion that ended a generation of under achievement, frustration and hurt. Even his clumsiness has been more important to the club than people realise.
So, Soucek’s impact on this club is unquestionable, yet there have still been recent calls for him to lose his place in the team. Many simply expected it following Moyes’ departure and the arrival of Julen Lopetegui. A new manager with a new style and new ideas led to most thinking a new midfield, with the qualities, was on the horizon.
But that hasn’t been the case. Soucek remains incredibly important to this West Ham side, which is not only evident in the fact he already has two Premier League goals to his name this season, but also his performance against Ipswich last weekend.
That may have gone unnoticed to many, but not to West Ham tactical experts Jack Elderton and Cal Goodall on The West Ham Breakdown podcast this week.
The pair discussed Soucek’s display against the Tractor Boys at length and explained why the Czech’s form this season has been so important to the way Lopetegui wants this West Ham team to play.
They said: “He’s doing literally everything you would want a midfielder to do in this Lopetegui team.
“He’s doing all of it. And this is a guy that we were looking at ahead of the season and saying he’s probably the least likely to be able to do all of the things that Lopetegui wants a midfielder to do. But it is working.
“It’s really, really, really, really good at the moment. The positions he’s taking up, his little passes around the corner, his switches, which is obviously a big part of how Lopetegui likes to play. That is something I knew he could do because his switch numbers have always been pretty good at West Ham.
“He’s good at switching play. So those long passes have been good. But it’s the little stuff that he’s doing incredibly well at the moment.”
Soucek’s intelligent play vs. Ipswich
There was moment against Ipswich in particular that portrayed just how intelligent Soucek can be in possession, and how his actions in and out of possession are benefiting Lopetegui’s plans.
They continued: “There was a moment [vs. Ipswich] where he moves out into the right of midfield and he receives the ball from from Wan-Bissaka, dribbles a little bit and then actually gets the defenders in behind. I think he drags two defenders towards him, then plays the ball backwards, which opens up a free pass into the middle of the pitch. That’s the intelligence that we need in the middle of the pitch.
“‘Let me drag two people into me, not try and play forwards, I’ll play backwards, but now half of the pitch is open. So whoever’s received the ball behind me, whether that be Todibo or Rodriguez or Kilman or whoever, now just has loads of room to either drive with the ball or play a dangerous pass from there.’
“He was incredible. I mean, never did I think I would see the day that Tomas Soucek played 90 minutes and had 56 touches of the ball.
“Moyes would never have allowed him to have that many touches of the ball last season. And he was very effective when he had it. He wasn’t loose in possession, as you might have expected. He was quite progressive. He had five progressive passes, four shot creating actions, one of which led to a goal. The guy’s out here doing box-to-box, a complete midfielder, and I’m here for it.”
No one has Soucek’s skill set
If Soucek continues his current form and remains influential to West Ham’s midfield play, then the tactical analysts believe he will be one of the most dangerous midfielders in the Premier League, purely because of his unique skill set.
“Everyone loves Soucek, right? It’s just that he had huge limitations and we felt as though they could be really detrimental to the style of play that we thought we would see play out this season,” they said.
“So I was saying that we didn’t really see him featuring in the starting XI. It wasn’t because we didn’t want it to happen, it’s because we didn’t think it could.
“But the fact it could, with all of the upside that he brings in terms of his box presence as well, if he maintains this and this becomes his standard level of performance, he’ll be one of the most dangerous midfielders in the league, just because there’s no one that has that skill set.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily sustainable. You’re not going to see him become a playmaker or anything like that. But if you can just get him to add a couple more strengths to that box presence at either end of the pitch and just make him a net positive in the middle third as well, he’s a mainstay in this side because he offers so much across the full 90 in every department.”