Vladimír Coufal was full of praise for West Ham United’s newest arrival Jesse Lingard after his match-winning double on debut at Aston Villa on Wednesday night.
Lingard showed no signs of rustiness on his West Ham United bow - despite only playing once since September for his parent club Manchester United - scoring twice in the second half and linking up dangerously with Michail Antonio and Saïd Benrahma
Coufal was thrilled to see his new teammate slot in so quickly and contribute to the well-deserved 3-1 victory over the Villans.
“I have to praise Jesse as he was incredible,” Coufal said. “He scored two goals and was always in the right space to help us with the combinations.
“He was brilliant today, so I have to say congratulations to Jesse.
“It was a very good result for us and we showed a very good performance from all the squad.
“In my opinion it was a deserved win, it’s another three points on the table and everyone is happy. We want to build on this three points against Fulham now.”
Coufal was in superb form himself, keeping Villa’s danger man Jack Grealish at arm’s length for the vast majority of the contest.
The Hammers’ solidity at the back paved the way for their success at the other end, but Coufal was quick to deflect the credit to his teammates.
“I spoke with the manager on Tuesday and we were talking about Grealish,” he added. “He’s probably the best player in the Premier League for creating chances and one-v-one situations right now.
“Maybe he’s the best player in the world at the moment in my point of view, so I expected it to be hard work up against him, but Ryan [Fredericks] and the other boys helped me as well.
“It wasn’t my success, but success for all the team. Everybody helped me and I always do everything for the team.”
Coufal concluded with a word on his Czech teammate Tomáš Souček, whose 51st minute goal set the Hammers on their way to victory.
“His confidence is very big and he believes in himself,” the No5 added. “I saw it on the pitch when he got inside the box, he didn’t look for a teammate but takes the situation on himself and tries to finish.
“Now his confidence is so big, and that’s good for us and for all West Ham.”