Vladimír Coufal offered up a heartfelt apology to West Ham United fans after Sunday’s 0-6 Premier League defeat by Arsenal at London Stadium.
The Irons fell to a disappointing loss at home to the Gunners, with William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel and Leandro Trossard putting the away side four goals ahead at half-time before Saka and Declan Rice completed a forgettable afternoon for David Moyes’ side in the second half.
Coufal was gutted and disappointed with the result and performance and empathised with the emotions felt by the Claret and Blue Army.
The Czech Republic international was keen to show his gratitude to the home support at London Stadium, walking a circuit of the pitch and clapping the supporters who remained at the full-time whistle.
While the pain of Sunday’s defeat will take time to subside, Coufal is desperate for the Hammers to put things right next weekend. That will only come with a week of hard work on the training pitches at Rush Green.
It never gets any easier to taste defeats like that, does it?
“I’ve never experienced such a big loss like today and I hope I never experience it again. It’s so embarrassing for me and the team when [Arsenal] are passing the ball to each other and their fans are applauding every pass. It’s embarrassing for us, for the fans, for West Ham.
“We can only say sorry and apologise to our fans, and thank you to the fans who stayed with us until the end. I understand those who left before the end too because, to be honest, I probably would have left too.”
You went around after the game and applauded the fans who were still with us?
“I really love our fans and I hope we love each other, so I just felt the need to say thank you and applaud them. It’s a respect between each other and it should work that way. I try to do it after every game.
“It’s not easy to face up after a defeat like this. It’s hard to keep my head up and look our fans in the eyes because they’re rightly disappointed. I fully understand and hopefully we will move on and repair things in the next game.”
Performances recently haven’t been too bad, even if results have. Why did the team perform like we did today?
“I don’t have the words, or the explanation, for the performance today. Maybe we showed Arsenal too much respect but we should never play like this at home. We should be right on them, pressing them, keeping them under pressure.
“But they played so well today. They played much better than they did in those other two games this season, when we beat them, and it felt like they were just absolutely everywhere today. We tried to play but they pressed us so hard. It was like they were the home team. I never want to experience this again.”
What is your message to your teammates and the supporters?
“It’s very difficult. I’ve never experienced anything like this. I will try to motivate my teammates. Everybody feels very, very guilty today and, from tomorrow, we need to prepare for the next game. I know everybody will work very hard and fully committed to repairing this and to prove to our fans that we aren’t like this.
“For the fans, thank you and please keep supporting us. I felt like I needed to say something for the changing room. It’s so difficult in that changing room right now because we are all professional footballers and it’s difficult to find the words.
"But tomorrow is a new day and we have to move forward. Hopefully people will come with their heads up and, if not, I will be the first to try and get them back thinking positively.”
