Tomas Soucek has urged his West Ham teammates to start tonight’s game with the same intensity as they showed in the second-half against Burnley.

Following their back to back wins against Brentford and Everton, some hope had started to be restored amongst West Ham supporters. Unfortunately, it was not long until that they were knocked back down to reality as their disappointing loss at Freiburg and their draw to Burnley means that things are going to be much more difficult for them.

Before all else, they must battle for their place in the Europa League quarter-final with the return fixture today. The Germans hold a one goal advantage over the Hammers which means the game is very much in the balance.

Thankfully, the players are aware of what is required of them ahead of the home leg and Tomas Soucek believes that if they perform how they did in the second 45 minutes against Burnley, then they can walk away victorious.

“We know we need to be on it from the get-go against Freiburg, and we can’t afford to start like we did against Burnley,” Soucek told the official site. “We need to transfer how we finished on Sunday into how we start on Thursday.”

“There was a big difference between how we played in the first half and the second half in our last game. We wasted lots of passes at the start and were poor on the ball, which was frustrating.”

“I think we came back out after the break with the thought that we had to go for it and that we had nothing to lose, and we were a lot better. We know we just have to have the right mindset throughout the whole of the Freiburg game, because we’re 1-0 down and chasing the game.”

This is not the first time West Ham have been in this exact situation though, as their first Europa League round of 16 tie two years ago saw them go 1-0 down in the first leg before scoring 2 at home in the second. 

“Lots of people have pointed out that this is a similar game to when we played Sevilla,” the Czech midfielder explained. “The fans were with us from minute one of that game, the stadium was on fire, and hopefully it’s like that again because we’re going to need our supporters.”

“We know how much our run in Europe over the last few years has meant to the fans, and it’s the same for us. The [UEFA Europa] Conference League win in Prague last year was one of the best nights in my life, and we all want more experiences like that.”

“We have another opportunity to go deep in a European competition, but we have to take it step-by-step and first up that’s Freiburg. It’s strange to play a team so many times in one year, but we’re confident, hungry and prepared to take them on again.”

Given the 5:45 kick off time, many are going to struggle to get to the London Stadium on time and there are still over 10,000 seats unsold. Those who are at the ground will need to be making as much noise as possible, to create a hostile atmosphere if we are to keep our European journey going.