Tomáš Souček says West Ham United can head to Germany confident that they can turn their UEFA Europa League semi-final around after a 2-1 defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg at London Stadium on Thursday evening.
The Hammers have work to do when they make the trip to Frankfurt next week, as Ansgar Knauff and Daichi Kamada found the net either side of a Michail Antonio goal.
Jarrod Bowen’s spectacular overhead kick looked as though it was going to level the tie again in stoppage timer, but it crashed off the crossbar and bounced agonisingly out and away from goal.
It was not to be for the Hammers in east London, but the Czech Republic international believes that, despite not being at their usual levels in the first leg, there is enough about this Hammers team to get back into the game.
“We had many chances,” Souček reflected. “It was possible for us to get the victory tonight, but we missed those chances.
“We’re disappointed with the result, but it's all still to play for in the second leg.”
It was a nightmare start for David Moyes’ team, as Knauff found himself unopposed at the back post, heading beyond Alphonse Areola inside the first minute of the game.
After being momentarily stunned, the Irons, roared on by the West Ham faithful, rallied, but the midfielder looked back on how the team could have been better from the first whistle.
“Everyone wants to be ready from the first second,” he admitted. “But I think we made two or three mistakes close to the box and in the end their player was on the end of it to punish us.
"It was a very hard from the beginning, but I think we reacted well from this moment, we equalised to make it 1-1 and we had other chances, but we just couldn’t get that second goal.”
As West Ham fans have seen already in this competition, the Irons are more than capable of turning the game on its head when they visit foreign soil.
That is something that the No28 believes that his team can take confidence from, and draw on those past experiences as they prepare for another tough match against the German side.
“I think we should go out there with confidence - we want to go through and be in the final, because I think we were the better team today and we didn’t play well enough,” he insisted.
“There’s a still a good chance for us to go through, it’s obviously a bad result today and in the second leg we need to create some chances and score some goals.
“We really wanted to win tonight, but we think as a team we have enough to beat them in the second leg, and like I said, I believe we are a better team and we just need to score goals. We created many chances today, and hopefully in the second leg we can put them away.
“I think for many players, the second leg will be one of the biggest games in their lives because we’re only one game away from the final. We have experiences of coming back from behind and we have to be ready to do that.”
