West Ham United played host to Crystal Palace at the London Stadium in the Premier League this afternoon, and Vladimir Coufal received plenty of plaudits once again.
West Ham took the lead against Crystal Palace inside the first 15 minutes today through a Mohammed Kudus strike, from a Vladimir Coufal assist.
Coufal, 31, has been in unbelievable form this season, as far as the stats go anyway. The Czech Republic international has now bagged an incredible five assists in 14 games for the Hammers this term (Transfermarkt).
The experienced right-back has done a fine job for West Ham since he moved to the London Stadium three years ago, but he is said to face an uncertain future at the club with David Moyes lining up a move to sign Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Many Hammers fans have been praising Coufal to the hilt this season, and in fairness to him, he has improved from last term.
However, the need for a new right-back should not be overlooked by Moyes, and Scot must be aware that the Czech defender’s impressive assist record this season doesn’t mean he is the type of defender we need to progress to the next level…
Vladimir Coufal assists again for West Ham vs Crystal Palace
The 31-year-old registered his fifth assist of the season this afternoon, and that’s great.
However, I really feel like those assists have papered over the cracks. Coufal is a right-back well on the decline in my view, and if we had someone like Emerson Palmieri on the other side of the pitch, we’d be a real threat.
West Ham need a younger, more energetic and dynamic right wing-back, if we are to make genuine progress up to the next level.
Coufal has always been a decent defender, but he’s beaten far to easily for pace these days, and his impressive assist record during the first 14 Premier League games of the season is somewhat of an anomaly, if you look at his career record for context (37 in 400 games).
There is absolutely no way that he will continue to provide assists at the rate he’s going at this season – one every three games roughly.
Moyes needs to blank those assists out, and sign a top-class young right-back either in January or next summer. I’m not saying we should sell Vladimir Coufal, he’s still a very useful squad member for West Ham, and he proved that once again today against Crystal Palace.
However, the need for an improvement in the right-back department is clear and obvious to see as fa
r as I’m concerned.
