Konstantinos Mavropanos has to start for West Ham United when Tomas Soucek is not selected.
West Ham really missed the aerial ability of Tomas Soucek during our 2-1 win over Luton Town on Friday night, and with Declan Rice having left in the summer we automatically became a smaller team.
READ ALSO: West Ham United net spend summer transfer window 2023/24
David Moyes alluded to this in his post match press-conference on Friday, suggesting that his side found it difficult to deal with long balls without the 28-year-old Czech Republic international.
The Hammers have made a fine start to our 2023/24 Premier League campaign, and we have definitely been playing much better football than we did last season.
However, our weakness in both boxes in the air against Luton was a slight concern, and there is only one way to rectify that as far as I’m concerned…
David Moyes must think outside the box when Tomas Soucek doesn’t play for West Ham
In my opinion, Konstantinos Mavropanos has to start at right-back ahead of Vladimir Coufal, when Soucek is left out of Moyes’s starting XI this season.
Standing at 6ft 4in tall, the 25-year-old is the same height as the former Slavia Prague man, and would instantly replace what we lose with Soucek’s aerial ability.
And the Greece international has already been seen in training operating as a right-back, so maybe Moyes has already thought of what I am suggesting.
Coufal has actually been decent this season, so dropping him for Mavropanos will be extremely harsh. However, different games call for different setups and systems.
When West Ham are playing without Tomas Soucek, we definitely seem to be more vulnerable when defending set-pieces and long balls.
I think the simple solution to this will be to start Mavropanos when the big Czech midfielder is absent from the starting lineup.
READ ALSO:
‘Absolutely out of this world’: Neville and Carragher blown away by West Ham player vs Luton
92 touches, 5 tackles won, one key pass: Outstanding 26-yo stood out for West Ham vs Luton
West Ham desperately tried to sell player on deadline day who’s played just 22 games for the club