By Louis Nixon
**Tomas Soucek once again tonight has shown why he has to continue to start and that he’ll be a crucial factor if we are to stay up.**
It’s much more than just a goal, Tomas Soucek has been a significant part of the glue for West Ham under this new Nuno side. He seems to be more comfortable in all areas of the pitch and is a positive wherever he wonders. He’s become such a positive that it has now allowed us to trust having more attackers or defenders to focus on in those said areas.
Soucek’s goal obviously didn’t claim all three points, seeing as United got that late equaliser, but the way he positioned himself for his finish was wonderful, analysing the space before darting into the box and tricking the goalkeeper using his left foot to score instead of the right.
People may not credit his ability and criticise many other aspects about him, but in terms of a Footballing brain, he is one of the best at West Ham, he is simply world- class.
Unsurprisingly, Soucek achieved MOTM, which makes sense given the excellent performance that he had. Overlooking the goal that he scored, across the match, he had 10 defensive contributions as well as three passes into the final third, making him one of the most creative players on the pitch come the end of the match.
Initially, for the first half, Mateus Fernandes appeared to be playing the 10 role and we tried to break down Manchester United with him there, but Nuno recognised this and understood that it wasn’t working and not enough chances had been created. Come the second half, he played Soucek in the 10 role and it worked a charm.
Fernandes stayed back and covered for Soucek’s attacking efforts and after he was successful, that’s where Soucek began to play further defensively once again, as the game was set to nick 1-0, but the magical, mysterious added minutes prevented that from occurring.
An unlucky end to the game, but that shouldn’t take away from Soucek’s performance.