WHZ View: How is West Ham midfielder Soucek so effective in the penalty area?
Tomas Soucek netted his fifth goal of the season on New Year’s Day to secure West Ham a 1-0 win away against Everton in the Premier League.
Soucek, 25, now has four goals in his last six outings for the Irons with the Czech international fast becoming well known for his killer instinct inside the penalty area.
But for such a big, bulky central midfielder, how is he so effective inside the box when West Ham are able to pick him out?
According to stats by Wyscout, three of Soucek’s goals have come from corner kicks ranking him joint-second in the top-flight behind Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma [4]. The former Slavia Prague midfielder has also been in more aerial duels [181] than any other player in the league.
Soucek averages 1.98 touches inside the penalty area every 90 minutes of Premier League football yet also averages 1.48 touches at goal.
If Soucek touches the ball in the penalty area, he’s more than likely aiming an effort at goal. Here we’re trying to examine just how he’s able to be such a nuisance for opposing defenders.
One of the main things Soucek is good at is timing his runs and finding himself in the right place at the right time where he can use his quick reactions to get the jump on the opposition.
With his goal against Everton, Aaron Cresswell’s shot deflected and ended up finding it’s way to Soucek. But Soucek wasn’t stood still, he anticipated it.
As you can see below, before Cresswell had even touched the ball, Soucek was making a forward run at the backpost and muscling his way past an Everton defender.
Before the ball even deflects into his path, Soucek has put himself in a goalscoring position.
Yes, the way the ball fell to Soucek was lucky but there was absolutely no luck involved in the Czech midfielder’s positioning and anticipation.
It’s a similar story for Soucek’s goal in the 2-2 draw with Brighton last month.
Before Cresswell even whipped in the corner kick, Soucek was on the move. Out of the West Ham player’s in the box, his starting position was the deepest yet his run took him straight to the edge of the six-yard box to head the ball into the net.
Again, Soucek’s anticipating and ability to gamble on potential match-winning moments is what has made him such a hit among West Ham supporters in the last year.
Leeds have been notably poor at defending set-pieces this season and while you can see in the image below that Soucek has been afforded acres of space in the penalty area, the Hammers ace still managed to get the jump on Stuart Dallas and run into the danger zone before the ball is touched by corner-taker Cresswell.
If Soucek had a mantra, it would be ‘if you don’t buy a ticket to the lottery, you can’t win it’.
He banks on himself to get the ball every time he gets into the penalty. Of course, he doesn’t win it all the time but when he does, he’s in a great position to score or at least have an attempt at goal.
There’s a massive reason as to why he’s scoring as many goals as he is in these situations.
Soucek believes in himself and will never give up.
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie wants Said Benrahma to get more game-time.