Tomas Soucek has stated that this current West Ham squad is the best he’s played with for the club.
The Czech midfielder had a night to remember, in his own City, in the stadium he used to play in, he helped the Hammers to win their first trophy since 1980.
Tonight, for a third season in a row, European football kicks off at the London Stadium. Soucek couldn’t hide his excitement to get started in the Europa League. “We all remember last year, with the UEFA Europa Conference League, and how good a tournament that was. We had the final in Prague and we are happy to go again. We’re happy to get the Europa League started tomorrow. “
“We want to be successful in this competition,” he confirmed to whufc.com. “We want to enjoy it. We have many more games and can play every Thursday-Sunday. I can tell you the players love that. We want to make sure we’re ready for the first game tomorrow.”
Much to the surprise of many, West Ham have had an incredible start to the season only losing 1 of their opening 5 Premier League games and our No.28 is hoping this can translate to Europe as well. “We have looked good in training sessions and in our first few games in the Premier League. I hope we can transfer that to the UEFA Europa League.”
Many expected West Ham to be poor this season, with the departure of Declan Rice looming at the start of Summer fans were understandably concerned. However the club did an immense job at recruiting the right players to make the transition as smooth as possible and Soucek believes his side are now better off.
“It has different types of players to what we had a few years ago and everyone is a bit different in terms of qualities and character, but we’ve all come together to make a great squad.”
“I think,” he continued, “with the quality and mentality of these players, this is one of the best squads there has been since I’ve been here. We just need to show that on the pitch and be successful.”
He’s not the only one to share this opinion with his Czech mate Vladimir Coufal stating that “we are stronger without Rice.”
Unsurprisingly, Soucek confessed to being disappointed with how his side got knocked out last time in the Europa league but said “it was the best motivation” to go on and win the Conference League last season. While he did go on to say that they now have a chance to redeem themselves he also wanted to make it clear that it’s vital to take the competition one game at a time.
“We want to start well in the first game of the group stage. We want the first win from our first game and concentrate on each game that comes.”
Another season of European nights under the lights, our Irons face what is their toughest group so far. They start with a visit from FK TSC Backa and it’s crucial we don’t underestimate them. The Hammers need to start as they mean to go on to give them the confidence that they can (for a third year in a row) win their group.
By Charlie Bass
