Tomáš Souček is fit and available ahead of West Ham United's crucial home tie against Leeds this Sunday afternoon, Tomáš missed the 2-0 midweek victory over relegation threatened Norwich City with asymptomatic Covid but is due to return for the Leeds game.
Having a couple of days off will have done Souček a power of good, although there are some who say his recent performances have definitely been below par and that he needs a TOTAL rest in order to return to his imperious form of last season, which earned him the Hammer of the Year accolade.
He HAS looked a bit jaded of late, but then have several other players as the club emerges from the insane Christmas and New Year programme of fixtures. What dID surprise us is that David Moyes elected to play Manuel Lanzini in the deep midfield role due to Souček and Noble's lack of availability rather than using Alex Kral.
Has Kral done something to upset Moyes? We do KNOW that squads kid new signings from abroad into using 'inapropriate' expressions, usually to the club's manager, especially if the player is spanish. You see the Spanish word for a good pal can also be used to call them a 'clint' if you know what we mean, it has always been a source of great amusement when a new player strides up to the manager and inadvertently calls him a profanity!
The thing is, Kral is NOT Spanish and he DOES have a good grasp of English, albeit with a weird American accent, so annoying Moyes by calling him names won't be the reason behind his lack of appearances. On the few occasions Kral HAS played, he has put in a shift and didn't look in ANYWAY uncomfortable on the ball, yet he doesn't get selected when a berth becomes available.
Perhaps it is a contractual thing? Otherwise why on earth was he signed on loan, surely a loan deal is in order to be able to run the rule over a player in a competitive environment? Whatever he has done, he seems to have missed yet another opportunity to show his worth, it is a pity because he looks like a decent player who is NOT afraid of the Premier League's physicality. - Ed
