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Nuno Espirito Santo issues “challenge” to West Ham players following Tomas Soucek comments
West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo has issued a clear challenge to his players after the disappointing 3-2 defeat away to Chelsea last week.
The Hammers were 2-0 up at Stamford Bridge before a late Chelsea comeback dealt them yet another poor result in this season of struggling to get out of the relegation zone.
Nuno will surely be feeling the pressure after a poor start at the London Stadium since he replaced Graham Potter earlier in the season.
It doesn’t help that one of his own players, Tomas Soucek, also appeared to aim a dig at the manager’s tactics at important moments.
What Tomas Soucek said after West Ham’s collapse against Chelsea
As quoted by West Ham’s official site, Soucek spoke after the Chelsea defeat about managing the game better and trying to make more of opportunities to counter-attack.
“They played much better, but we have to manage it much better, even because we know we were 2-0 up, and we just need to win this game,” Soucek said.
“We have to go for counter-attacks again as to score a third goal would be important, but we can’t concede three goals, because it’s sometimes too easy.
“That’s the mentality we should have [to score a third goal], because the best defence is to attack, so that’s what we want, but sometimes when we are winning we go too much to defence, and then they create the chances and we didn’t manage that.”
Nuno’s message to West Ham ahead of Burnley test
Nuno has now spoken out about what he feels his team needs to do as they prepare for an important game away to Burnley this afternoon.
WHUFC really need to win to distance themselves from their fellow relegation strugglers, who are five points below them in the table.
West Ham fans will have to decide for themselves, however, if it sounds like Nuno has taken Soucek’s comments on board.
“We have analysed it and looked at things, and we have to find solutions going forward,” Nuno said in his press conference, as quoted by Hammers News.
“We spent a lot of energy pressing high in the game, and playing so well offensively, and after about 55-60 minutes we felt that energy getting away.
“We tried to rebalance the team with an extra body and it didn’t work out, so the challenge is to keep the standards throughout the whole match.
“The positives are that we played some really good football, we just need to sustain that going forward. The players are hurting, and they will be ready to go on Saturday, to show a reaction.”
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