Like hell” | Coufal reflects on hard-fought win against Tottenham The West Ham Way

West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal was over the moon with his side’s 2-1 win against Tottenham after an extremely tough start to the game.

It would be fair to say that the start of Thursday night’s London derby was concerning from a West Ham point of view. Tottenham seemed to be on another level and the visitors had to show resilience before they could slowly find their feet.

Given the occasion though, it was always going to be tight. West Ham would have to take their chances to walk away with a result and take their chances they did. They had to defend as a unit as well, and Coufal was delighted that his side was able to succeed at this to overcome their London rivals.

“It was one of the most important games for the fans and also we are really happy we could please them with this victory,” he confirmed when speaking to the official site. “It’s really good that we could thank them for their support like this.”

While it is certainly a night worth celebrating, the players attention quickly turns to Sunday’s match against Fulham. “If we can win at Fulham too it would be something amazing,” Coufal explained. “It’s a tough game and we play again [quickly] so we will recover well and prepare for the game.”

One thing that’s been echoed by everyone is how much of the focus leading up to the match was on limiting Spurs’ attacking style of football, the Czech international sung from the same hymn sheet in this regard.

“We knew it would be a game like this probably, with a lot of them on the ball in a high position, and we would have to be compact, stick together and cover each other.”

Coufal did not sugar coat how rough the game was early on though, comparing it to “hell” for the East London side. “We did an unbelievable job together defensively and we survived. The first 15, 20 minutes was like hell almost, to be honest, but we survived.”

“We conceded just one goal – from a corner kick, which was not good enough from us – but in the second half we took our chances.”

Fortunately, the second half is where West Ham really found their stride, scoring twice to flip the game on its head and limited Tottenham from creating much else. “I’m not saying we controlled the game,” the right back concluded, “but I think we were very solid, compact and difficult to play though. We played our game to full effect.”

Our Irons now sit just three points behind Tottenham in fifth place, a win against Fulham is an absolute must if we are to fight for European football again. It was an impressive victory in North London, but it means almost nothing if we can’t follow it up with a win in the West End.