There is at least one change Stuart Pearce would make to West Ham United’s starting XI when capital city rivals Chelsea rock up at the London Stadium on Friday night.
While Graham Potter insists that Mads Hermansen will start once again between the sticks despite his difficult debut last time out at Sunderland, the man in the Hammers hotseat has no shortage of difficult decisions to make.
Does Potter again stick with a snail-paced midfield pairing of Guido Rodriguez and James Ward-Prowse?
Potter aimed the blame at Max Kilman, Nayef Aguerd and Jean-Clair Todibo after Sunderland scored from two unchallenged headers at the Stadium of Light. Konstantinis Mavropanos, then, may be an option to come in and give the West Ham United backline an extra bit of physicality.
But in the eyes of Stuart Pearce, the former West Ham defender and two-time assistant to David Moyes, there is one man in particular who can consider himself extremely fortunate to have dropped out of the first XI; Tomas Soucek.
Stuart Pearce urges Graham Potter to re-call Tomas Soucek for West Ham United
Now, Hammers News reported a fortnight ago that West Ham could still sell Tomas Soucek before the transfer window closes.
It is understood that Graham Potter does not see Soucek as a valuable part of his long-term plans, the former Brighton boss looking instead to pack his engine room full of tidy passers.
But, as Pearce is at pains to point out, Soucek remains a rarity in this West Ham roster. Only Jarrod Bowen scored more Premier League goals than his tally of nine last season.
And considering that the Hammers barely tested debutant Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs on Wearside, even if El Hadji Malick Diouf did see a first-half effort cleared almost off the line, Pearce fears that Potter could pay the price for his continued sidelining of the long-serving Czech colossus.
“West Ham have got to come out and give their fans something to cheer about, you know?” Pearce begins, speaking to talkSPORT. “It’s all very well saying we need the backing of the fans, but that has to start on the pitch and it’s down to the players to deliver a performance that gets the fans off their seats.
“In some ways, there is no better game than Chelsea at home to do exactly that.
“Graham will be hoping the team deliver a performance which gets the crowd excited. Now, it might not guarantee a victory but you want to deliver a performance so the fans go home happy.
“Obviously, they could do with more goals dotted around the team. [They are] very reliant on Jarrod Bowen. I looked at the starting line-up [last week] and Tomas wasn’t in it.
He might look a bit of an ‘ugly duckling’ on the football pitch at times but I tell you what, his honesty, his work-rate, he attacks and defends both boxes… He’s invaluable to the team and we’ve seen that over a number of years.”
Pearce demands improvements after Sunderland debacle
While Everton and Leeds held discussions over Soucek all the way back in May, interest has been in relatively short supply since then. Leeds brought in another 6ft-something giant in Anton Stach, while Everton blew their midfield budget on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
As Pearce alludes to, Soucek’s imposing frame could come in very useful in both boxes. While lacking a presence in the attacking third against Sunderland, Eliezer Mayenda and Dan Ballard profited from ‘non-existent’ Hammers defending at the other end before Wilson Isidor’s breakaway strike secured a 3-0 opening weekend win.
“They’ve got to get an ability to be hard to beat and hard to break down,” Pearce adds. “Keeping clean sheets is really important. They looked as if they had a really soft underbelly [against Sunderland].
“The ball coming in the box, not defending crosses, basic stuff defensively was lacking.”
