Written by Katie Shergold @flump9
One of the main topics that has been discussed this season, is Mark Noble and whether he should still be playing for West Ham. After seeing so much negativity (honestly I am so tired of using that word when discussing West Ham), I thought it was about time that I gave my verdict on the situation.
There is no doubting that his form isn’t quite up to where he was a few seasons ago, his legs clearly aren’t working as well as they could be and sometimes he just doesn’t bring anything to the game. He is 30 years old and to be competing at the top of your game week in week out is clearly not easy, but to write him off completely and the hatred towards him just seems completely unnecessary to me. I don’t believe Noble should be playing every week, but I still believe he is a valuable member of our squad. His experience and mentality alone is great for our youngsters coming through the ranks and for that reason I consider him an important player.
Some fans have called for him to retire, others have wished injury upon him and a number of them have just given him hordes of abuse. Regardless of whether you think he should be a first team player anymore, surely nobody can genuinely believe he deserves such negative, callous and offensive comments being made towards him. It was only last year when many were calling for him to be playing for England and his testimonial match was a sell-out at Upton Park. Noble has been such a loyal servant to the club, playing over 400 games since his debut in 2004. How can all of that be forgotten?
This weekend we have a huge game at The London Stadium and I have seen a few polls regarding whether Mark should start. The majority were against him starting, with some rather harsh comments being thrown around once again, however I think Saturday is the exact game that we need Noble to start. He understands the importance of the game, what it means to the fans and I just know he will be fired up and hopefully be at the top of his game. If there was one game I would want Mark Noble to play, it would be against Tottenham at home, maybe not for the full 90 minutes but he is a definite starter for me.
Nobody can ever doubt Mark Noble’s contribution, attitude, desire, passion and unwavering loyalty. Yes, we have probably seen his best days at West Ham and Slav can’t play him every game purely down to his loyalty, but I for one will always think fondly of Noble and I am thankful for everything he has done for the club. He will always be ‘Mr West Ham’ to me.
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Honestly, the amount of stick this guy gets is unbelievable from so called ‘supporters’. I think he’s important not because he’s ‘Mr. West ham’ bur because he is genuinely still good. His game awareness and understanding is still top notch, some people complain about him passing back all the time, but he actually does put in a few good balls out wide and over the top through the middle. At the game on Tuesday the complaining about noble was ridiculous, every time he played a ball back there was a moan, played it forward…silence. He released Arnie out wide to set up Sakho. Nothing. Kouyate plays the ball back, not a peep. It’s unfair. Feel free to criticise based on what you see but some people are just looking for reasons to back up their distorted point of view, instead of taking a balanced look.
Also, what is the problem with going back occasionally? Ball retention is vital. A few times Arnautovic gave the ball away in dangerous positions on Tuesday night, something we’d be punished for against a good team.
A few weeks ago Obiang had a real stinker against Man utd, I wouldn’t of hesitated to put Noble in instead based on what I saw. Now Obiang has found a bit of form he is working well with Kouyate, but Noble is the perfect man to help rotate the cm position.
Have to disagree with him starting as this is exactly the sort of game he will get sent off in with a few reckless early tackles as he will be so up for it and is prone to do. I am by no means a Noble hater as some and I don’t actually think it is his lack of pace or legs gone that is the issue. Mark has never been blessed with pace but for me it is his lack of forward play and whilst I am not stupid enough to believe a forward pass with a 50% chance of finding it’s man is better than a sideways or backwards pass that is 95% likely to find the player but everything comes to a grinding halt when it gets to him, Tuesday night was the perfect opposition for Mark to shine and I am surprised more has not been said about his distribution (Pass to Arnautovic for Sakho goal) as I think it was back to his best but saying that he had so much time on the ball a player of his ability to pick a pass will and should do that all day long, it is just against better Premier league opposition that don’t give him that much time he struggles and turns back to his defence which in turn puts them in trouble which results in a rushed back pass to the keeper and be that Adrian or Hart both are prone to a little wobble when put under pressure. I don’t want to see big balls pumped up to Carroll all game and nor do I want to see hospital passes into Chico’s feet just to move the ball forward but I do want us to be more incisive with our passing and I just don’t think Mark is that player any longer. I do feel that any abuse of him is certainly out of order and that’s not the usual “He has claret and Blue blood in his veins” BS, there are 50,000 (well 25,000 give or take a few tourists) every home game that can lay claim to that particular allegiance but it doesn’t mean we should be given the shirt every week but what it does do is give the guy a huge amount of respect he has earned over the course of the the last decade or so which for me, and this is only my opinion and wouldn’t dream of telling anyone else they are wrong, is that he has been a great player, great captain and still has a role to play at the club and as a good squad member but for me it has to be Kouyate and Obiang starting, with defensive midfield cover coming from Rice this season & Oxford as well when he is back. We have some great Attacking Midfielder’s coming through such as Quina, Samuelson etc but with Mark being more defence minded I wouldn’t view them as direct competition for his place. He has to be retained in the squad and at the club and we should be doing all we can at this stage to help with the transition to coach rather than saying thanks and bye wave as you turn out for the Orient.