Defender Vladimír Coufal has called on his West Ham United teammates to take the positives from the second half of Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Burnley into their upcoming UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg against SC Freiburg.
The Hammers - who fell to a narrow first-leg defeat against Freiburg in Germany on Thursday night - returned to Premier League action in disappointing fashion in the early stages against the Clarets at London Stadium, and were 2-0 down by half-time.
A game of two halves turned on its head somewhat when Lucas Paquetá reduced the hosts’ deficit within 30 seconds of the restart, and substitute Danny Ings later earned a share of the spoils with a neat finish in injury time.
“It’s a difficult game to explain,” Coufal said. “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.”
Ings’ dramatic leveller marked his first goal of the season, and the first since he netted against Gent in the UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final last April, and he came close to winning the game for the Irons at the end of an impressive late cameo off the bench.
Coufal was full of praise for the England international after such a telling impact, as well as Ings’ fellow forward Michail Antonio, who similarly made his mark on the fixture up front in the dying stages.
The Czech Republic international added: “I’m so happy for both Danny and Michail. 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.”
