Tomasz Soucek: I am very proud of the team's performance

Tomasz Soucek, who currently plays for West Ham United, says manager Graham Potter's clear thinking is starting to pay dividends on the pitch.  

Tomasz Soucek has captained the team in all four games since Graham Potter was appointed as the team's manager, in the absence of regular captain Jarrod Bowen due to injury, and was proud of the team's performance.  

Tomasz Soucek praised his side's performance, which saw them break down the opposition defence, use a high press to deprive their opponents of the ball and score a brilliant goal through Emerson following a cross from Edson Alvarez.  

In an interview, Tomasz Soucek said: "My favorite thing is not having two strikers who can score 30 goals, but being able to defend, attack and score goals as a team. This is what makes the team special, and I think we are doing well."  

"I would say this was the best performance under the new coach and we can see on the training ground what he wants to do because his message is clear, he wants to control the ball and press the opponent. It depends on the team we play against, but as players we know the method."  

“We keep working on the training ground and if I see progress like I did on Sunday I’ll be happy because we’ll keep improving.”  

The most impressive thing about West Ham's performance against Aston Villa was that they started poorly, conceding a goal to Jacob Ramsey after just eight minutes, but then they rallied to withstand the intense pressure from the home team.  

Tomasz Soucek added: "If I could have put the first 15 or 20 minutes of the game into the game, it would have been a perfect game for us because we were everywhere as a team. We fought for every ball and that's what we really need from West Ham United. We need that determination, especially in the last 20 or 30 minutes, and we should be the winning team."  

“The response we had was fantastic because it’s always difficult when you lose. After the game went into the second half, we continued to believe and create chances, even after missing a few and having a goal disallowed. So I’m really proud of the team and how we managed the game.”  

“In the Premier League, every team is a top team. We have a game against Chelsea next and I think they are a very similar team to Aston Villa, so if we keep the confidence we can get the points there.”