Since their arrival from the Czech Republic both Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal have given their all and become firm fan favourites with their do or die antics, however their almost super human performances have come at a cost, with neither player quite hitting the heights that they reached last season.
To be honest, they both look a bit knackered, having played themselves in to the ground for West Ham, they then did exactly the same for their country, in what was a unique season which featured far in excess of the amount of games than would have been normal pre pandemic.
Both players have looked off the pace, this is understandable given their 'lung busting' responsibilities for the team, something had to give, and it appears something has! Vlad 'the impaler' Coufal has always seemed almost indestructible, that was until he received a 'cowardly' knee in the groin area from Manchester United's Juan Mata during Hammers 1-0 WIN at OLd Trafford.
How Mata escaped sanction is beyond belief, if the roles had been reversed you can guarantee Coufal WOULD have been suspended for intentional foul play by deliberately setting out to injure an opponent. Alas it is what it is and expecting a level playing field when Ronaldo United are involved is naive and pointless.
Unfortunately the fall out from 'Mata's attack' is that Coufal's injury has compounded the fact that Hammers back up right back Ryan Fredericks was also TAKEN OUT at Old Trafford, this time it was because of the 'Moat' surrounding the pitch, indeed had Fredericks not had to go off injured, then Vlad would never have been on the pitch in the first place!
Talk about a 'double whammy', unfortunately freak occurrences are common place in football, injuries and suspensions DO tend to come in multiples and clubs need the necessary strength in depth to cope with such situations. For West Ham that is definitely not the case, while the manager and board DID manage to pull off some fine signings before the transfer window closed there was still a glaring need for an additional right back as well as a left back.
Young Ben Johnson has stood in admirably for both positions in the past, but he cannot be in the same place twice can he? Perhaps Johnson's versatility lulled David Moyes in to a false sense of security? Irrespective of who's fault it is, it seems the only way to go forward is to dig back into the youth and U-23 set up to find a replacement.
The player who springs to mind is Harrison Ashby, it might be a case of throwing him in to the deep end, but he does represent Scotland and is an accomplished performer, David Moyes may well elect to start Ashby and retain him for the entire game if he performs decently.
Coufal HAS to be given some recovery time, after all he wasn't originally scheduled to play against Manchester United having already received a knock in the Southampton game. Having the option of adding a high energy young player to the first team is one of the luxuries afforded by being in the group stages of a major tournament as opposed to a knock out tie, and possibly one Moyes will HAVE to take.
More on team selection ahead of the match. - Ed
