West Ham United manager David Moyes absolutely has to make a couple of big changes if he is to deploy a more attractive brand of football at the London Stadium.
David Moyes has overseen a terrible start to 2024 at West Ham, and he recently lamented the profligacy of his players in front of goal as a main reason why we’ve been struggling so much.
Some of the football on display from the Hammers has been truly shocking – the games against Sheffield United, Brighton, Bristol City and Bournemouth being the main examples of this.
The fans have been crying out for better football, with more patterns of play and with our team at least starting the game on the front foot.
Two players who make this nigh on impossible are Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal, in spite of the positives that they bring to the team.
The Czech Republic internationals are incredibly uncomfortable with the ball at their feet, and they both slow us down so much in transition.
Moyes clearly loves both players but if he genuinely wants to take us to another level, they need dropping urgently…
David Moyes must drop cumbersome £20m West Ham duo
Soucek was signed on loan from Slavia Prague in January 2020 – a move that was made permanent five months later for around £15 million (Daily Mail).
Meanwhile, Coufal arrived at the London Stadium just four months after his countryman, for around £5 million (Guardian).
Both players have proven to be extremely good signings for West Ham, but I strongly feel like we’ve outgrown the £20 million duo now.
If we want to push for the top six in the Premier League table consistently, then Soucek and Coufal should not be part of the team.
Kalvin Phillips and Ben Johnson should come into the side to replace them, and then Moyes can look for more long-term solutions in the summer.
West Ham boss David Moyes needs to bring in a young right-back with pace, power, energy and technical ability in abundance. Someone like Leeds ace Cody Drameh would be perfect – a player we’ve been linked with recently.
Then, the Scot needs to sign a technically gifted central midfielder – someone who is extremely comfortable in possession. Either that or he could move Lucas Paqueta back into central midfield, as long as he signs a top-class left winger in the summer.
The main thing here is that Soucek and Coufal are both dropped. I find that hard to say because they always give 100% for the club, but the cold hard truth is that there is no room for sentiment at the very highest level of the game.
And Moyes needs to make a ruthless decision on the Czech pair in order to move forward as a club to the next level.
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