West Ham United ace Vladimir Coufal blasted in 3/10 international media rating, ‘expect a lot more’
West Ham United defender Vladimir Coufal was slammed in the Czech national media following a poor showing in his nation’s loss to Georgia.
Coufal played the full 90 minutes in Tbilisi as Czechia were thrashed 4-1 by a Georgian outfit who garnered many plaudits during Euro 2024, and left a side containing he and Hammers teammate Tomas Soucek in its wake.
The 32-year-old was deployed as a right-wing-back but did not deliver on the night, struggling up against opposing left-winger Luka Lochoshvili and forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Czech website iSport.cz [7 September] went in on Coufal with a pitiful 3/10 rating, explaining: “He is out of form, spoiled a lot, was easily bypassed by the excellent Kvaratskhelia.
“On the plus side, there were some interesting sharp crosses, but you expect a lot more from a Premier League player…”
West Ham man Vladimir Coufal has night to forget for Czechia
Coufal is not daft – he will know as well as anyone he turned in a shocking performance in Georgia on Saturday night, and in a way it could turn out to benefit West Ham.
Experienced professionals often have a way of making positives emerge from their poor showings, and the weekend’s disappointment may see the full-back return to Rush Green with that added fire in his belly.
Whilst he has started two of Julen Lopetegui’s first three league games in charge, Coufal has not yet completed a full match – only doing so in the Carabao Cup, when he was drafted in late to replace Aaron Cresswell against Bournemouth as Aaron Wan-Bissaka impressed at left-back.
And it is the acquisition of Wan-Bissaka which is restricting Coufal’s football as Tim Steidten drives the club into a new chapter on the field.
The 46-cap international’s contract in East London expires in the summer, and this could be the beginning of the phasing-out period for a decent servant to the club.
In other West Ham news, a potential breakthrough for Niclas Fullkrug.
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