Tomáš Souček refuses to take West Ham United’s involvement in European football for granted.
For the first time in the Club’s history, the Irons will compete on the European stage for a third successive season, stepping into the UEFA Europa League for the second time in three years.
The Hammers’ European efforts have led to immense success. Having reached the semi-final of the Europa League two seasons ago, Souček and his teammates went all the way in the Europa Conference League last campaign, earning a first trophy in 43 years for West Ham United.
The triumph of last season on the continental stage still brings a smile to Souček’s face, not least because it was achieved in his homeland, in Prague, with his family by his side.
Thursday sees a new European test commence, with the group stage starting with the visit of FK TSC Bačka Topola, and the midfielder is eager to get going once again…
We’re all excited to be playing in Europe again.
We all remember last year, with the UEFA Europa Conference League, and how good a tournament that was. We had the final in Prague and we are happy to go again. We’re happy to get the Europa League started tomorrow.
Playing well in this competition is one of our targets. Especially after last season and the season before, when we reached the semi-finals of this competition. We have enjoyed our two years in Europe and we’re all excited for our third year this season.
I think we’ve coped well with the Thursday-Sunday schedule.
I think, if the players and coaches are strong enough, they can deal with that and take advantage of it. You don’t have as many training sessions but the biggest thing is the games. We want to play as many games as we can and we showed in the last couple of years that we can handle both Europe and domestic games.
We want to be successful in this competition. We want to enjoy it. We have many more games and can play every Thursday-Sunday. I can tell you the players love that. We want to make sure we’re ready for the first game tomorrow.
We have the new signings in the squad.
We have James Ward-Prowse, Edson Álvarez and Mohammed Kudus in midfield, and we have new coaching staff too. We have looked good in training sessions and in our first few games in the Premier League. I hope we can transfer that to the UEFA Europa League.
As a midfielder, I trust myself in these games and I know I can also trust the midfielders around me.
I feel this squad might be the strongest I’ve played in at West Ham.
It has different types of players to what we had a few years ago and everyone is a bit different in terms of qualities and character, but we’ve all come together to make a great squad.
I think, with the quality and mentality of these players, this is one of the best squads there has been since I’ve been here. We just need to show that on the pitch and be successful.
Winning a trophy can make you feel like a different player, it’s true.
I think it’s the same if you win something or if you play many games, because then you have more experience. That experience can be very important, especially when you’re in a tough time, because you can prove that you can deal with it from what you’ve already achieved.
The players that are here have a lot of experience, which I know can help us.
I know a bit about FK TSC Bačka Topola.
We have watched them in our clips and we have prepared a lot for this game. We know how they’ve been playing in their games and what shape they like. We’ve looked at individual players too, so we’ve prepared very well.
We want to be ready for every game because we want to be as successful as possible. The last two days, we’ve watched a lot of FK TSC in order to be ready.
We want to show our style and what we can do. We know they are top of their league and they have earned the right to be in this group but I believe we will show our quality tomorrow.
How we got eliminated from the UEFA Europa League last time is a great motivation for us.
It was the best motivation for us in the Conference League last year and now we can play Europa League again. We were all gutted we didn’t reach the final that year but now we have the new chance to show we can do it.
We want to start well in the first game of the group stage. We want the first win from our first game and concentrate on each game that comes.
I like to see myself as a leader in the squad.
I was a captain at my former team and also for the Czech Republic National Team, and I want to be a leader here too. I’ve been here for a while now and, since the beginning, I’ve wanted to help my teammates both on and off the pitch.
As the years go on, and I’ve been here longer and longer, I think my place is a bit higher in that regard. But I think my behaviour has been the same, I just want to be helpful to my teammates. I hope I am.
Lucas Paquetà is a great player.
He’s a very special player and what makes him so special is I don’t think anyone really knows what he is truly capable of doing. He is a very special talent. He can provide assists, score goals and give the team what we need going forwards.
