Midfielder Carlos Soler has expressed his determination for West Ham United to bounce back together following last Saturday’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Southampton at London Stadium.
The Hammers visit Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, looking to arrest a six-game winless run that has left us 17th in the table, and with just five games of the 2024/25 Premier League season remaining, Graham Potter’s side now need to pick themselves up quickly as we bid to end the campaign strongly.
A second consecutive victory on the south coast this weekend, having claimed our first and only Premier League win at Brighton in this fixture last season, could provide a much-needed catalyst for a strong end to the season, while victory at the American Express Stadium could move the Irons up to 13th, if results go our way.
And Soler, who has recently returned to the starting XI after a spell on the substitutes’ bench, has urged everyone associated with the Club to come together in an attempt to turn around our form.
“It's a nice thing for me to be starting again because I'm playing football, and I always want to be on the pitch and helping the team,” said Soler.
“I think at Liverpool we did a very good job, and we deserved to at least draw the game [which was lost 1-2 late on], but against Southampton, it wasn't the performance that we wanted to show to everyone.
“We had to win [against Southampton]. We didn't show that in the first half, but we have to accept that, be humble, turn things around and get ourselves in a better position in the last five matches of the season because we are in a position that we don't want to be in.”
“The season has had a lot of ups and downs. It hasn't been good, and it hasn't been what we expected. But we can’t look at the past, we need to look at the present and finish the season off as strongly as we can with as many points as we can.”
In the reverse fixture earlier this season, we drew 1-1 at London Stadium, where Mohammed Kudus immediately cancelled out Mats Wieffer’s opener to earn a point, and though he’s expecting another tough encounter when they face Fabian Hürzeler’s Seagulls this weekend, Soler wants his team to play without fear and have no regrets against a Brighton side who have conceded eleven goals in their last four games.
“We have to try to defend better and try to attack better, from the goalkeeper to the forwards to people who are on the bench,” Soler declared.
“We know that they (Brighton) do a good job with the ball. They start playing from the goalkeeper, and they have good solutions. They are not in a good moment, but we are not in a good moment either.
“It's going to be a tough game, and it's going to be difficult, as always in the Premier League. It's never going to be easy against any team in this league, but we have to show that we can do it and have no fear, and if we do things for ourselves, for the team and the fans, I think we will improve and things will definitely get better.
“It's important to win games for the fans because they are always behind us, supporting us. When we play in other stadiums, they are always there, and when we play at home, there are always 62,500 people there with us, and with the position we are in, it's difficult to be behind us.”
Admittedly, our No4 says the squad haven’t achieved the objectives we were aiming for at the beginning of the season, but on an individual level he is feeling satisfied with his output as he approaches the conclusion of his first season in the Premier League, and is hoping to add to his 28 appearances before the end of the campaign.
“It’s not been what I expected, nor what the team or the fans expected in terms of the objective, because when I arrived at this big Club, the goal was not to be where we are now, the goal was an ambitious project with lots of new players and new coaches and trying to do things better than last year,” Soler added.
“This hasn’t happened, and we have had a difficult season with ups and downs, but we have to be humble to recognise that we didn't do things well, and that's football.
“However, I have really enjoyed my season here despite not being in the position that we want to be in. I have enjoyed living here in London, playing with this team and playing in front of this crowd and these incredible fans.
“I have enjoyed and learned a lot about another very interesting league, which, alongside La Liga, is the best in the world. I would have loved to play more and to be more involved in the starting line-ups, but it doesn't just depend on me, it’s what is best for the team, for the staff, the Head Coach and for everyone at the Club.
“I've always tried to do my best in training and in the games, and sometimes in football it doesn't happen how you want, but I've enjoyed this year here in England, and obviously I would love to be in this league for a lot more years because every player wants to play in the Premier League, and I’m no different.”
