West Ham legend Tony Cottee suggests David Moyes has to drop Tomas Soucek

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West Ham United legend Tony Cottee has suggested that David Moyes has to drop midfielder Tomas Soucek.

Cottee was discussing West Ham’s most recent loss on TalkSPORT (6/4 9:15am), and was very concerned by what he saw.

It was West Ham’s worst home defeat of the season, as Newcastle put five past Lukasz Fabianski.

The Polish goalkeeper prevented it from being much worse, although he did make the error for Alexander Isak’s second-half strike.

David Moyes once again went with a three-man midfield of Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta.

Rice held his own in midfield, but looked outnumbered on multiple occasions, while Paqueta produced some nice touches.

However, Soucek struggled to make any sort of impact, and was eventually replaced by Flynn Downes.

The Czech international managed just 13 touches all game, and completed only eight passes.

Soucek didn’t make the best case for Moyes to keep him in the starting line-up and Tony Cottee has called for him to be dropped.

He’d also like to see the Scot shake up the roles given to each player in midfield.

Cottee wants Moyes to drop Soucek

Speaking on TalkSPORT about the 28-year-old, Cottee said: “Soucek, I don’t know what’s happened to Soucek.

“For the last 18 months he’s been all over the place.

“I think they’ve got to change tactics. Maybe bring Flynn Downes as a holding midfielder, and just give Declan Rice and Paqueta the license to get forward.

“I feel sorry for the centre-forwards, whether that’s Antonio or Danny Ings.

“There’s too many balls up in the air around their ear holes, and they’re not getting runners.

“Even if they flick it on, there’s no one running beyond them. So, if you get a passive midfield, you’re not going to create chances.”

The £67k-a-week midfielder hasn’t looked himself all season.

Normally a reliable source of goals, he’s found the back of the net just once this campaign.

Compare that to his tally of 10 two years ago, and that’s a stark drop-off.

Flynn Downes has looked promising in Soucek’s place when Moyes has given him a run out, and Cottee would like to see him in the side.

Chris Sutton agrees with Cottee, and believes Soucek is a ‘shadow’ of himself right now.

He’s also been described as ‘running in quicksand’ and certainly struggled to keep up with Newcastle’s midfield.