Midfielder Tomáš Souček insisted the overall team display was the most important takeaway from Tuesday night’s 3-2 victory over Fulham, despite the Premier League clash proving a momentous occasion for him on an individual basis.
The 29-year-old led the Hammers as captain for the third game in succession, in the wake of Jarrod Bowen’s injury sustained against Liverpool in late December, and he marked the occasion by netting the Hammers’ second goal en route to an important three-point haul.
Indeed, Carlos Soler had put the hosts in front just two minutes before Souček struck his fifth goal of the season to make it 2-0, and Lucas Paquetá scored either side of two Alex Iwobi goals to seal the result and mark Graham Potter’s first match in charge in the ideal manner.
With only four shots registered across the 90 minutes, opposed to Fulham’s 21, West Ham proved clinical on the night, and Souček was most pleased with how he and his teammates stuck together to grind out the success that lifts them up to 12th in the table.
“I was pleased with my goal,” he said. “It was great movement from the lads, and I remember that when Mo [Kudus] had the ball he could’ve had a shot, but he passed and there were a couple of crosses. Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] passed to me, and I managed to score.
“Captaining the team to a win is a big honour for me. I appreciate it a lot, and the guys in the team all help me a lot. I’m proud of every moment I play for West Ham, and now I’ve captained the team so I’m proud of that.
“But the most important thing today is that we won three points for West Ham, and for our fans. It’s a brilliant first win for our new manager, in his first match at home.
“I think that we can play better than we did tonight in the future, and on the ball we have many things to improve, but the first thing is about fighting for each other, and we did that well.
“We went into this game as a team, and there wasn’t any individuality. I saw one team, including the players who started, came off the bench and even those who didn’t play.”
Though he recognised the need for improvement, Souček also noted some of the strengths in West Ham’s attacking play under the lights, with good pressing from the likes of Edson Álvarez and Danny Ings forcing mistakes that led to goals.
The Czech Republic international is also confident performances will only improve as the team continue to build their relationships with boss Potter, who still hasn’t been in the dugout for a week.
Next up is another home top-flight outing, and another London derby, against Crystal Palace on Saturday, and our No28 can’t wait to get back out on the pitch and try to help the Irons keep pushing up the standings.
Souček added: “The pressing was one of the best things about today, and that’s what we need. We need to win the ball in their half, because then we’re close to creating chances, and we managed to score goals doing that today, so hopefully that can continue.
“It’s an important moment today, and I hope from here we can stick together and we can keep climbing. It’s important we stick together in the tough times, and fight to win momentum which helps us win football matches.
“It was tough before the Aston Villa game [in the FA Cup], because we only had one session with the new coach, but now we’ve had a few more days so we’re starting to get to know each other better.
“There’s been a lot of enthusiasm from the lads, and good mentality, and we’re all going to be massively motivated to win again on Saturday.”
