West Ham United have faced plenty of questions over a perceived lack of leadership in the London Stadium dressing room this season, despite the presence of veterans such as Tomas Soucek and Lukasz Fabianski.
Questions which ramped up during what was their worst start to a Premier League season ever. Their worst in any competition for 52 years. Those left scrambling around for answers finding themselves pointing towards a summer of substantial change.
West Ham lost a ‘warrior’ when Vladimir Coufal left, to quote close friend Tomas Soucek.
Add in Aaron Cresswell, Michail Antonio, Danny Ings, former captain Kurt Zouma and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, and West Ham United bid farewell to six players who had made over 1,200 appearances for the club between them.
Did this create a leadership vacuum behind the scenes? Former Upton Park shot-stopper Rob Green could not help but fear the worst as they began the campaign with heavy defeats by Sunderland and Chelsea.
Four months on, while doubts remain over Jarrod Bowen’s ability to captain the side in a manner reminiscent of Mark Noble or Declan Rice, things do feel a little different.
Tomas Soucek says Lukasz Fabianski is a leader behind-the-scenes at West Ham United
Midfielder Mateus Fernandes credits Nuno Espirito Santo with providing the sort of figurehead that was ‘missing’ previously under Graham Potter. Returning ‘club legend’ Lukasz Fabianski is mentoring the next generation of youngsters, too, particularly when representing the Under-21s in the EFL Trophy as he did back in October.
Fabianski re-joined the Hammers on a short-term deal only a few months after his contract expired last July.
Now, speaking on the latest edition of the Ironcast podcast, Soucek shines a light on the sort of role the 40-year-old Pole is playing behind the scenes at Rush Green.
He may no longer be a regular in the squad, let alone the starting XI, but the knowledge he imparts to those around him could prove invaluable.
“Yes, I think I’ve changed. I think people respect me much more than when I first arrived because, back then, people didn’t know me,” says Soucek, who joined from Slavia Prague a year-and-a-half after West Ham brought in Fabianski from Swansea City.
“I came from the Czech Republic. I wasn’t like some star. I had to write my name.
“But now, people and players take my advice. I want to be more involved in everything we are doing. Especially now with me, Jarrod and Lukasz Fabianski being the longest-serving [players].
“We want to be involved in everything and help the team because the team always has a heart. We need to keep developing [this].”
Soucek urges his Hammers teammates to fight with everything they’ve got against relegation
The veteran box-crasher has found himself restricted to a ‘supersub’ role in recent times. Not that Soucek was ever going to throw the proverbial toys out of the pram.
The model professional, Nuno Espirito Santo cannot speak highly enough of Soucek’s mentality, adaptability or his always-reliable goalscoring. It was he who stepped off the bench to secure back-to-back wins over Newcastle and Burnley in November.
Two of the three Premier League victories the Hammers have enjoyed all season long.
A couple of WINNABLE fixtures on the horizon! 🗓️
How many points will West Ham pick up in their next five games?
In order to escape the bottom three, the West Ham squad would benefit from following Soucek’s lead and taking a leaf out of his book.
“I feel positive. You need to have a good team but you need to win and feel confident and much stronger,” Soucek adds. “I feel that we can rise out of [the relegation zone]. We want to go higher, we don’t want to stay there.
“I feel we have power [to change] it, but we have to keep it and do it maximum everywhere, even like the [training] sessions. Sometimes it is really great, but sometimes it’s not so perfect!
“But we have to keep consistent and on a high level [in training] and then you will perform. I don’t like if some players don’t train hard, and you have to tell them!
“This is me, I have this attitude after my mum. As a kid, I did lots of running. Even the sessions we do now – in training, we run like seven kilometres [every day] – I am always high up! On my day off, I am not the one who goes to play golf. I go to run!
“I like tennis, I like pedal, active sports. I love to be active!”
Soucek has already put a Marathon on his post-footballing bucket list.
Fabianski’s retirement plan involves leading a goalkeeping academy in his native Poland, meanwhile.
Alongside former Poland internationals Artur Boruc and Wojciech Kowalewski, the former Arsenal and Legia Warsaw glovesman is launching a project ‘unlike any other’ in Poland, as Sportowe Fakty put it.
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