Vladimir Coufal was happy that West Ham bounced back from “disastrous” first-half against Burnley and urged teammates to keep up the levels they displayed in the second-half.

Heading into their match against a struggling Burnley side, the expectation was that West Ham would ease their way to victory due to their superior squad. In typical West Ham fashion though, that was far from the case.

To say their first-half display was abysmal would be an understatement. It was arguably the Hammers’ worst 45 minutes all season – that includes being 4-0 down to Arsenal at half-time – as they found themselves 2-0 behind at the break. Thankfully, the second 45 was considerably better and the hosts deserved to win in the end but, disappointingly, they had to settle for a draw. 

While Vladimir Coufal was infuriated with the first-half, he is hopeful that his teammates can take their brilliant second-half display into the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 against Freiburg.

“It’s a difficult game to explain,” the right-back told WHUFC.com. “The first half was absolutely disastrous for us. Sometimes the opponent can overplay you, but we didn’t deal with Burnley well enough before the break.”

“The second half was a lot more like how we want to play, and I think we can take a lot from that performance into our next run of games. We were brave and positive in our play. It doesn’t matter if someone makes a mistake – mistakes happen – but we’re all there to help each other and I think we showed that towards the end, which helped us get the equaliser.”

“We have a big game coming up on Thursday, and hopefully we can continue in that spirit. If we do that, and we have the full backing of our supporters, I’m confident we can get the job done.”

Obviously there was some excellent performances after the restart, but Coufal was keen to highlight two substitutes in Michail Antonio and Danny Ings for their impact on the game, especially considering how difficult things have been for them lately. 

“I’m so happy for both Danny and Michail,” the Czechia international exclaimed. “Danny is a born striker because he’s always in the right place, and his finishing is amazing. He could’ve scored three goals in the short time he was on the pitch, and together he and Mick made the difference.”

“Mick fought for every ball, he was running behind, and it was a pleasure to see. He’s one of the best strikers in the league in terms of speed and strength, and it’s great for him to return to form now with such a busy schedule ahead.”

If West Ham perform like they did in the second-half when they play Freiburg, they could easily progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League. The Germans will be defending for their lives and, therefore, it will be extremely difficult to break them down but the Burnley game was a perfect example of how to break teams down when they’re putting men behind the ball.