The frustration was clear when Tomáš Souček was asked to sum up West Ham United’s 0-5 defeat at Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.
The Hammers shipped five goals for the second Premier League away game in succession, conceding five or more for the fourth time this season, and have now let in 43 in 18 matches on their travels and 70 in total in 36 top-flight fixtures.
While West Ham did have opportunities of their own at Stamford Bridge, where Jarrod Bowen hit the crossbar on three separate occasions, their defensive work was less than stellar, with three goals flying in before half-time, and two more beating Alphonse Areola after the break.
For someone who gives everything, there was a sense of deep disappointment, embarrassment and even anger in Souček’s voice when he spoke to West Ham TV after the game.
“I have to say we really deserved it because we did not do what we were told,” he admitted. “We did some good individual things but not as a team. Going forward and going backwards, we did many things wrong, and we got punished for that. On the other hand, we could have scored a few goals, but we conceded a lot of easy goals.
“As a team, we have to have great spirit and be compact all the time. If someone goes pressing, someone else stays all the time, and the opposite cannot work like that, and we got punished for that today.”
The No28 put himself about at Stamford Bridge, but his efforts counted for nothing as West Ham were again exposed away from London Stadium.
The Irons return to Stratford next weekend for the home finale against relegation-threatened Luton Town, and Souček insists the players simply must up their application, concentration levels and discipline when they face the Hatters.
He said: “It is two games to go now, and next week is so important because it is our last game at home, and we want to bounce back, and we want to win for our fans because they deserve to see a win in the last home game of the season.
“Today, it was so poor for everyone, but now we have to concentrate on our last game at home.”
When asked why he felt the Hammers had been so defensively frail in recent months, not keeping a Premier League clean sheet in their last 16 games, Souček had his own theories, but was at a loss to explain why things have gone wrong results-wise in 2024.
“That is what I am talking about because we want to be in Europe again, we played in Europe for three years in a row and we enjoyed it and our fans enjoyed it,” he observed. “We wanted to be successful as a team and teamwork on the pitch is so important if we want to be successful.
“I want it to be hard [to beat us]. I want to be successful as a team because this team can be successful, and we showed we have been successful in three or four years in a row.
“Now we have been beaten heavily in the last couple of away games in a row by five goals and this cannot happen. This can happen maybe once a season with unlucky goals, but not like that. Just now, we have one week to go to our home stadium and get a result for our fans.
“Chelsea showed their quality, and we got punished. As I said, it is two weeks to go and we have time to show respect to our Club and get the win for our fans.”
