- West Ham lost 1-0 to Arsenal on Sunday
- Tomas Soucek says the team are hurt by the VAR call that took away their equaliser
- Soucek joins Mad Hermansen and Nuno Espirito Santo in calling for consistency
West Ham United fell short against Arsenal on Sunday, losing 1-0 to Arsenal at the London Stadium. It wasn’t for the lack of trying, as the Hammers held off the title-chasing Gunners for much of the match and even netted an equaliser in added time, only for it to be chalked off by VAR.
Both Nuno Espirito Santo and Mads Hermansen have called for clarity over the decision and more consistency going forward. Now, Tomas Soucek has echoed the call for all at West Ham, telling the club’s official website that whilst he is proud of the performance, the decision hurts.
“We wanted to have a chance 50-50 and we went through the game at our maximum,” he said. “The energy was there, the stadium was rocking, that was everything what we wanted, what we said to ourselves before the game and obviously we could be a winning team through the game as well.
“So I am very proud but obviously I have to be disappointed because at the end we lost the game. So I am very, very disappointed because every point is so important, we could take even three today against a top team like Arsenal but that is what happens.
“At the beginning we were a little bit lucky with some chances but from minute 20 I think they didn’t have any chances and we could score at least two goals so we are disappointed and at the end they won the game and we are obviously disappointed with the last minute because everyone thought that there was an equaliser.”
West Ham won’t give up on Premier League survival
The loss has given West Ham‘s chances of Premier League survival a huge blow. Three points for Tottenham Hotspur this evening would see the Hammers four points a drift. Despite this, Soucek says the team will never give up.
“As a team, we are all together and I believe still that this energy that we had today we have to bring for another two games because I believe that if we win two games we stay up and that’s our struggle,”
The Czechia international has continued to echo his teammates displeasure in yesterday’s VAR call, saying just how much it hurt.
“There are so many fouls there and especially Arsenal, they do it all the time and they score so many goals with small blocks and I can’t believe that the referee changed the decision,” he said.
“I can’t believe it. I saw it after the game what happened and there is like a small challenge and there can be a penalty, there can be everything.
“I think football is disappointed by today because we all want goals, we all want celebrations, we all want this energy and we find something on the computer. Football got hurt today.
“Honestly, I am a fan of VAR because football should be fair because there can be a player a metre offside that nobody can see, there can be something that nobody can see at that moment. It’s tough for the referee, but I think [in this case] it’s bad for football.”
