The Daily Mail claim the recent up turn in form is partly down to rant from West Ham captain Mark Noble.
A Daily Mail source is quoted that the skipper gave the team a five minute rant following the one nil defeat against Wolves in September.
‘He didn’t hold back,’ said a source close to the dressing room. ‘Noble accused the squad of lacking enough commitment to the club which he has served for almost 20 years.’
‘You just do not seem to care and that is not acceptable at this club,’ said Noble according to the source. No-one was spared as Noble spent a full five minutes insisting that performances were well below what was needed.
He stressed that more effort was needed from the group and more from the new players which had cost West Ham £100million during the close season the team were to end a horrendous run that had brought four straight defeats in the opening quartet of Premier League games.
The tabloid claims Noble’s angry assessment of what had happened and what needed to happen to turn West Ham’s season around could be heard yards away from the London Stadium home dressing room.
‘He didn’t hold back and there were a few choice words,’ said the source. ‘But it needed to be said.‘ After the international break, Noble was restored to the team along with Declan Rice and there has been a distinct change in attitude since Noble’s no-holds-barred verbal attack.
If he’s as useless as Bubbles says, why has he been constantly selected by all our managers. Perhaps Bubbles knows more about football than Pellegrini, Moyes, Bilic etc
Mark Noble is a top top man and top Hammer. He is the club captain and what he said needed saying. The stats on our work rate pre the rant fully supported and justified Mark having a go at the players and squad for our performances over the first few games. It is one of the things in the mix that seems to have worked. So top man Mark – ignore the nay sayers and doom merchants – keep going the way you are – and your form over the last few games has been outstanding. The ‘through the eye of a needle’ passes to Zaba and Marko to set up 2 goals V Man Utd were sensational.
I have often been critical of him but in this system and particularly against an albeit lazy Utd team he looks excellent, as good as he did the season with Payet firing, just don’t allow him too close to our own penalty box because he makes stupid fouls.
A journalist recently wrote that Mark Noble has a heart the size of a double portion of pie and mash. He certainly has been the heart beat of the team for a long time but it’s because he has been in the team for such a long time that his contribution is often taken for granted. It’s when he’s not in the team that we are noticeably worse off as a team. He is a long distance runner not a sprinter. His lack of pace is more than made up for by his leadership, work rate, the constant running, creativity, and decisive passing. Until we find someone as good in that role then the team will always be better off with him in it.
Us fans cannot accurately judge the real impact of Mark Noble’s rant, but things have greatly improved since.
The blend of Noble, Rice and Obiang works really well in midfield. Marks close control and neat inter passing combined plenty of tackles and pressing more than make up for his lack of pace.
Managers are paid to make these judgement calls and just now it is working for us.
Top man Mark. It needed saying cos we could all see the lack of commitment. He seems to have done the trick. COYI.
Surprised someone didn’t give him a ” dough boy “. He has been the weakest link in the team for three seasons before last weekends performance . He has no right to slag people off when he is letting them all down . Shame he dosen’t save his breath to help him get back to defend at a fraction quicker than snails pace .
Good to see that some things never change …..
Don’t agree with this.
There is one think you can never doubt with Noble, and that is when he is on the pitch he gives 110% every time.
He may not be able to get back as quick as he use too, but he always gives his all.