It’s hard criticising a player for whom you have much admiration but today wasn’t Mark Noble’s finest 90 minutes.
The captain was definitely responsible for the first Norwich City goal and I would have to argue that he must hold his hands up for his involvement in the second.
A sloppy pass let in the Canaries for their first goal and as he made a rather weak attempt to close down Nathan Redmond for the second he succeeded only into inviting him inside and onto his stronger foot which he duly accepted and hammered home.
What make is all so ironic is that the manager has warned on several occasions that if we are to start winning regularly at the Boleyn we need to cut out the silly mistakes.
So far this season we have lost and drawn to a couple of teams we’d be expected to beat – Bournemouth and now Norwich – as a result of individual mistakes.
As I say, it’s hard to discuss the guy most believe to be Mr West Ham in these terms but if you are going to live by those standards it unfortunately goes with the territory when you cock up.
I’m sure Mark will hold his hands up as Aaron Cresswell when he was responsible – he probably doesn’t see himself through the sort of claret and blue tinted glasses us fans do which is why he has reached this level.
However, there’s going to be a very interesting situation develop when Alex Song is fit again and you have to wonder whether Mark will be the man whose position is under threat.
There were signs today that the Irons are starting to intermittently develop a way of playing other than via the counter attacking style at home.
They looked a much better team when they pressed the ball and squeezed Norwich but as soon as the second half opened we again sat back. We have to press a lot more at Upton Park and not give moderate opposition room to play.
We’re still a work in progress and there are interesting times ahead but the good news is we are already well on our way to the first objective – safety!
He’s just tweeted this: @Noble16Mark: No games easy in the premier league, another tough game today, mistake by me!! but boys dug in and got a good point #COYI
The answer to you’re question Hugh is simple really,
If mark noble keeps giving the ball away as he has been doing then song will be in.
But at least he is playing better football under Bilic and will hopefully learn from his mistakes !!
I never thought once today we would loose the game I khew we would equalise.
A total reversement from the hippo .
COUI!!!!!!!s
I always support him due to his tireless work, the sheer volume of spade work during a game, and some creative stuff into the bargain, so he is entitled to miss a few passes in a game. The problem is that the number of misplaced passes are now becoming embarrasing, and put him in danger of being dropped when Song is fit. He needs to buck up. I really hope he does.
He should actually be dropped now!!!. Obiang does a better job protecting the defence.Cant afford to wait until Song is back.
l think it was to shore up and to cover for Noble’s shortcomings in the centre that Bilic brought in Obiang for Moses because Norwich were running away with it. But he should have just had the guts to make a straight straight swap- Obiang for Noble, and we would have wrestled control of the midfield and kept our width.
Agree.
West Ham have a wealth of midfield talent available when everyone is fit. Kouyate, Song, Payet, Moses, Lanzini, Obiang, Noble and Antonio, As good as he is when plating well, Mark Noble won’t make the starting 5 out of this lot.
Noble is just an average Premier player,its only because he is a local lad he generally manages to stay clear of flak from fans.If he played for another premier team you wouldnt even look twice at him as more than average.We need & have better players.
Why wait for Song? Drop him now and bring Obiang in. Gives the ball away far too often but many West Ham fans don’t see it through the claret and blue specs.
When a team get promoted you hear every manager say that in the premiership you get punished for mistakes and today noble has cost us 2 points, take away the fact he came through the ranks and he’s an average premiership footballer but now surrounded by more quality which only serve to highlight his shortcomings, namely poor distribution and rash needless tackles in dangerous situations. However Slav has created a serious problem and that was making Noble captain, how many managers drop their leader? ….it rarely happens so it will be interesting when Song is fit, as has been said on this thread I’d have Obiang over him every time, putting a shift in is great but quality should always prevail.
Noble is ,and always has been , rubbish . He cannot run , tackle , shoot and wastes every corner and free kick he takes . God only knows why he got a 5 year deal . He should have been moved on . As for Captain it is a joke . We have 3 or 4 players who should be in front of him in midfield and as for loyal … he is loyal because no one else has ever wanted him .
DONKEY
Spot on! When I make a response like that on other sites, I usually take a thrashing. He had a hand on both goals, pure and simple. Like others have stated, if he was from anywhere other than East London, he would be lambasted.
Your comments are both wide of the mark and at best derogatory to a player who never gives up and always gives 100%. He is a very good tackler. Read the Opta stats for ground covered and kilometres run in a game he is always in the top 3. How many penalties has he missed ,one to my recollection against the spuds last season. He created the 2nd goal at Citeh, and scored at Anfield.
Yes he made a bad pass yesterday, but so did Cresswell, & Jenkinson against Bournemouth,and even Payet gets it wrong occasionally.
Get of his back.
Very good tackler?? I always thought his tackling was a liability,especially round our box.How many times does he get booked for silly tackles.I dont care how much distance you cover,that was peoples arguement with Nolan last year that he always covered the most ground,didnt do much to improve the team though did it.
Not really. How were his free kicks and corners? Like others have said, if he wasn’t local you wouldn’t give a toss.
I give my opinion as I see it. I have watched the Norwich game again, My opinion is that Tomkins could have pushed out quicker (local lad by the way) and perhaps the pass from Noble would have not been so catastrophic. The first equalising goal was a result of a Noble interception and pass to Poyet. Obiang did very little when he came on except get booked. I really think Noble is becoming the new Nolan another scapegoat.
Wow! Where’s all this hate for Noble come from suddenly ? Has he nicked your girlfriend or done a hit and run on your motor ? Yes, he cost us the game today. And we may have more skilled and pacy midfielders in our squad now.
And surely Bilic will not start Noble in every game anymore once Song is back.
But I don’t get the vitriol. He’s a pretty decent Premier League midfielder to say the least.
Average at best HH. Better players on the squad currently. Slav made a mess making him captain. Rather see Reid wearing it.
Its simple for me,if he is playing well he gets picked,if he aint then bring someone else in.I dont care if he is captain,he doesnt keep his place based solely on that.Had enough of that last year.The more we bring in better players like Kouyate,Obiang,Payet then the more average Noble is going to look.The majority of these players are a cut above him,aint his fault,they are just better players.When Song comes back it will be highlighted even more.Heart,desire & love of the club can only take you so far.If we have better options than him they play.If he is on his game he plays.Play your best team,its simple.
He aint nicked my girlfriend H,but i wish he would 🙂
We will clearly have better midfielders available when Song is back as well.Kouyate,Obiang,Song all better imo than Noble.In principal he should struggle to get into the team.But as captain he will probably keep his place alot of the time.He doesnt deserve to be torn to shreds by fans but i can sort of see why people call for Obiang or Song when he is fit.They are better players.Dont we want the best players on the pitch.Surely that is the plan isnt it,lol
Noble gets away with a lot based purely on the fact that he is a local lad & seen as that spew inducing term ‘One of our own’.He has been off the pace for a couple of seasons now.As someone said above the more quality midfielders we bring into the side the even more mediocre he is going to be made to look.I have nothing personnel against the kid but i do care if the team suffers because a player is in the team at the expense of better available options.
Bloody predictive text.Personal not personnel
Nice to see the fans on here have woken up, I’ve been sayingbthis for 4 seasons get rid of he is dig **** as for his tireless work rate that’s bolox as it never amounts to anything positive, he gives away the ball that leads to more goals than any other player in the league. I get slaughtered on sites like this from claret n blue coloured spectacle wearing fans for criticising local hereo , wake up he’s costing us too many points.
Not a case of waking up.We have always known his limitations No.6 but we aint had the options we have now.He got in the team because we had limited players that could replace him.Now we do have & for me he is the weak link in our midfield.Whats the point of highlighting his deficiences before if you have nothing better to replace him with.
I like Noble always puts in shift and proper club player. You are right though when all fit we should only play him if he deserves it…captain or not. But he nearly got caught out in previous games playing these same in-field,across the back, passes. He’s not alone..Cresswell, jenkinson have been caught out as we know but still they do it. Tompkins yesterday..the number of times his first thought was to play from an almost right back position across to left back …luckily he changed his mind a few times. ..but they must be being told to do it?
On similar basis we had a free kick 10 foot inside their half…instead of playing the ball to their box we pass it back along the defense to the other side. ..end up further back and lose possession with most of our team still up the field waiting for the ball!
Possession passing football we like,sure, but further up the field.Not playing the ball across the back 4 all game as the odds are at some point you get caught.for us that’s been fatal 5 times this year (highest in the league) Defenders should usually play the ball down the lines or forward…not across your own goal!
So for me Noble is guilty of these passes but he ain’t alone..so please ex defenders Slav and Dicksie sort it out !COYI
I really dont understand why some are so sensitive about critisism aimed at Noble.Why,because he is a local lad??.I dont give a damn where someone comes from,if he is needed to be replaced in the team it happens,shouldnt be an issue.As our team evolves & we sign better players then some are going to fall by the wayside.He is being shown up as one of our lesser lights imo.He made the same mistakes against Newcastle but got away with it 2 or 3 times.If nothing else he at least needs to learn from his errors.The fact he got taken off yesterday tells you all you need to know.
Got to say i have always been a big,big fan of Nobes but even i am starting to struggle to justify his place in the team.Not just based on one mistake but i dont see how you can leave Obiang & when fit Song on the bench & have Mark on the pitch,would just be all wrong imo.Play the best players at your disposal,really dont think Nobes makes the cut when everyone is fit.
Quite a few players did not deliver yesterday! Moses just never got started! Tomkins, and Cresswell, what has happened to the runs he used to make and superb crosses? We have to take extra time midweek must have played a part, but give some credit to Norwich.