Tomas Soucek’s training ground admission reflects terribly on West Ham players and Julen Lopetegui. Tomas Soucek has opened up on the style of football that Julen Lopetegui is trying to implement at West Ham United.
West Ham face Bournemouth in the Premier League tonight, and Tomas Soucek has challenged his teammates to not lose any more matches this calendar year.
That will be incredibly difficult considering how poor the Hammers have been under Julen Lopetegui this season.
West Ham have been miles off the levels required, especially considering how strong our summer transfer window seemed to be at the time.
Things could turn around very quickly if we beat the Cherries tonight. It would actually be nice to simply see the Hammers play with a discernible playing style. That’s not too much to ask is it?!
Now Soucek has opened up on exactly what Lopetegui is trying to get his players to do.
Soucek admission reflects badly on West Ham players and Lopetegui. The midfielder has been one of our better performers on the whole this season. However, the vast majority of the Hammers squad have underperformed. It seems like Lopetegui is trying to extract something out of his players that quite simply isn’t there.
Soucek spoke to WHUFC.com, and lifted the lid on what Lopetegui is trying to get his players to start doing during matches. The 29-year-old said, “When I see our training sessions, we have so much more to show [in matches]. We want to show our style and deliver results with this system.“
“The coach likes a more active style of football. Pressing the opponent and having more of the ball. I really like this style but we have to show more on the pitch. As a team, we work very hard here, but on game day we need to show even more, because results are the most important thing.“
If that is the case, then why do we look so lethargic as a team on match-days? The high and aggressive press that Tomas Soucek is talking about has barely been seen by the West Ham this season.
I understand that it usually takes time for a new manager coming in with fresh ideas to implement his system. However, Lopetegui is five months deep into the project now, and nothing has changed. In fact, we have actually regressed as a team.
I don’t see how the West Ham players can’t show some fight, commitment and real energy and dynamism on a consistent basis as a bare minimum. That shouldn’t take months on end to implement.
Tomas Soucek has made it clear what Julen Lopetegui is trying to achieve with this group of players at West Ham.
So is he getting his message across incorrectly, or are the players incapable of carrying out his instructions? I would suggest that it’s maybe a little bit of both, and Soucek’s admission doesn’t reflect very well on the players or the manager as far as I’m concerned.
