David Moyes must axe Vladimir Coufal for West Ham United EFL Cup clash v Liverpool as reckless footage emerges
West Ham United have the chance to secure their place in the EFL Cup semi-final on Wednesday when they take on Liverpool and David Moyes must axe Vladimir Coufal for the contest.
The fourth and final EFL Cup quarter-final tie takes place at Anfield on Wednesday night (20 December), as the Reds take on the Hammers in an all-Premier League affair.
And West Ham will enter the contest full of confidence after their resounding 3-0 win over Wolves on Sunday (17 December) at the London Stadium.
Mohammed Kudus scored twice to help the Hammers get back on track in the Premier League with a comfortable win to get one over on their former player and Wolves coach Gary O’Neil.
A dominant West Ham looked a different side to the one that suffered a 5-0 thrashing by Fulham seven days previously with the win moving the club to eighth in the Premier League.
Along with Kudus’ two goals, Brazilian playmaker Paqueta laid on assists for all three goals which left BBC Sport pundit and football legend Alan Shearer wowed by their displays on Sunday.
However, despite the win over the Midlands outfit, the game could well have been marred by some red card controversy when West Ham United defender Coufal could have cost his team after some reckless challenges.
Footage from Sky Sports emerged on Monday 18 December which showed Coufal making a needless challenge on Wolves attacker Jeanricner Bellegarde where he looked to have elbowed him in the jaw and ex-Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher claimed that the challenge deserved more than “just a free-kick”.
TalkSPORT host and former Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling argued live on air on Monday morning (18 December) after seeing the footage that the Czech international should have seen red for the challenge, whilst Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane also made the same point.
Coufal was also guilty of another reckless challenge on the same player later in the second half for which he was deservedly brandished with a yellow but it could well have been much worse for both the player and his teammates.
However, it wasn’t just Coufal’s ineptitude in his challenges but his all-round display which will have left Moyes worried.
As per SofaScore, the Czech right-back won just one of his seven ground duels, and three of his 10 duels in total whilst committing five fouls before being correctly hooked off minutes before the end of the game.
With a place in the EFL Cup semi-final at stake, such performances from one of Moyes’ senior players will certainly not be tolerated and it may be best if the West Ham United manager axes him for the game against Liverpool.
In other West Ham news, a journalist has made a prediction over Kudus’ future after what he saw at the weekend.