Pundit: Vladimir Coufal is like Julian Dicks, but only got in the West Ham United team because David Moyes got ‘fed up’ of Ben Johnson
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie has compared Vladimir Coufal to Julian Dicks, but thinks he only got back in the West Ham team because David Moyes was “fed up” with Ben Johnson.
Coufal struggled for form earlier in the season and was dropped by Moyes, with Ben Johnson and Thilo Kehrer picked ahead of him at different points, and admitted he could have left in January.
But McAvennie believes that Coufal is the best right-back at the club and compared him to the legendary Julian Dicks before claiming he’d want him to be the club’s right-back “all day long”.
“He’s come back in and he’s hit the ground running again,” he told West Ham Zone.
“He gets it and the fans love him. He gets it because he’s a no-nonsense player.
“He’s like Julian Dicks but on the other side. He gets up and down, he doesn’t mind a tackle, doesn’t mind getting involved with other people. He’s just an all action player really.
“I like him. He went through a bad patch and Moyes played the boy Johnson, but David must have gotten fed up and then returned to the team.
“He’s a good defender, a good player. Maybe he had a problem, a little injury. But I would have him as my right-back all day long.”
Coufal has started each of West Ham’s last five Premier League fixtures, which has helped them to move away from the relegation zone after a sub-par campaign in the Premier League.