Vladimir Coufal could face ruthless David Moyes axe after what he did, West Ham United must seek long-term replacement
West Ham United defender Vladimir Coufal has proven an excellent stalwart for David Moyes this past year but recent performances suggest an inevitable decline which must be addressed fairly quickly.
The Athletic shared on 19 October that the Czech Republic international became the first West Ham player to record an assist in four straight Premier League games after setting up goals in each of the matches against Manchester City, Liverpool, Sheffield United and Newcastle United.
It added that only 10 players in the top flight have assisted a goal in five straight appearances, with the 31-year-old Czech defender hoping to achieve that when he lined up against Aston Villa on 22 October.
However, it wasn’t to be for the former Slavia Prague man and his teammates after suffering a heavy 4-1 defeat at Villa Park. In actual fact, it was one of Coufal’s worst performances in a Hammers shirt.
As per SofaScore, the veteran full-back only won two duels throughout his 90 minutes on the pitch, lost possession 11 times, failed to register a single tackle, was dribbled past twice, committed three fouls, completed just one cross and one key pass all game before being handed the worst average score of any player to start the match.
Coufal certainly did improve as the Hammers suffered their third consecutive defeat against Everton on Sunday (29 October), winning six duels, three tackles, two interceptions but failed to provide the security and well-rounded edge that West Ham needed to grab something from the game.
He lost possession of the ball a whopping 21 times, completed 81% of his passes, completed just one cross all game, and failed with 100% of his dribbles [SofaScore].
The way Coufal has conducted himself since being out of the West Ham side for a large period of last season has been excellent and he deserves great credit.
After working his way back into the starting lineup towards the end of last year, he has nailed down the spot at right-back and there are certainly no questions being asked about his selection anymore.
However, his last couple of performances certainly open up a few doubts over whether he will be able to compete at the top level consistently with the Hammers wanting to fire on all cylinders, domestically and in Europe.
West Ham face off against Arsenal on Wednesday night and the Czech international could well be forced out of the firing line against the likes of Gabriel Martinelli or Leandro Trossard, who could terrorise him just like Everton and Aston Villa did recently.
Coufal will no doubt return to the team for their next Premier League fixture this weekend but given his ripe-old age of 31, it may be time for the club to start planning for upgrades in the transfer market, especially with rarely-seen Ben Johnson potentially leaving the club very soon.
In other West Ham news, one Hammers star was anonymous again v Everton, Moyes has a crucial decision to make or face an unfortunate sack decision.