Mark Noble’s contribution to the Irons survival has been nothing short of immense and he is proud to be part of a squad which has battled valiantly to survival.
And that has come about only as a result of manager David Moyes using him in a role which was reserved initially for the misfiring pair – Manu Lanzini and Felipe Anderson.
Both have been a massive disappointment and that a 33 year old defensive midfielder can do the job they are supposed to be doing better than either of them tells us more than we really want to know.
It’s a cute move by Moyes to use him in the role at a time when all creativity in the squad had seemed to have disappeared. Instead Mark’s passing range and pursuit of balls behind the defence to the likes of Fredericks has been great to see.
It tells us a lot too of the manager who having turned Marko Arnautovic into a central striker has now developedthe skipper into a kind of number 10. Clever stuff.
Speaking after today’s game Mark was keen to recall the last few games – notably his 500th saying:“It was nice last week, getting survival against Watford in my 500th game, but I’m more even proud of the players for the way they’ve come back after the lockdown.
“To be honest it made me a little bit emotional reading what the ex-pros and the chairmen said about me. As you see, you come into a game like this with no fans, and it’s always tough to give yourself that bit of a motivation to go out there and play, but I thought we did that.
“We’ve had some really good performances. It’s been a tough season, and with everything that’s gone on, as we all know… but to come back and play and finish the season the way we have is a credit to all the players.”
West Ham ultimately finished their campaign in 16th place, with the draw against Aston Villa – after an afternoon of twists and turns in the table – also securing the visitors’ place in next season’s Premier League.
Noble added on their achievement: “It was a tough one going into the game, but you could see on the pitch how much this game meant to them. I think you could see that we tried to win the game.
“They scored a good goal through Jack Grealish, and then we scored a goal right away. I think Michy [Antonio] missed a chance early doors, but we got ourselves in a position in the last two games really against Manchester United and Aston Villa where we were already safe – not mathematically, but we were safe.
“One defeat in seven I think that is now for us. We’ve ended the season strongly.”
I may be out there all on my own, but I’ve watched enough football in my time and have seen Mark Noble’s progress from the very beginning of his career, and his ability to play in this role hasn’t surprised me at all.
I always wondered if many others saw what I could see in Mark, as he is regularly underrated by many.
So Moyes use of Mark was a masterstroke and proves that he could see this ability in Mark. Moyes received widespread criticism from many supporters for playing Mark as there was all of this talk about how his legs had gone and that he wasn’t up to first-team football any more. Luckily Moyes is a proper manager who knows the game inside out and wouldn’t pay attention to internet chatter. Hopefully, Mark has changed this view held by many. How he never received any England caps is a surprise to me.
Mark being given that role and taking it away from the likes of Anderson and Lanzini as you rightly pointed out Hugh, shows that these two ineffective players need be moved on. Not only were they ineffective, but they showed a great lack of heart and appetite for the battle we were in. I even suspected that Anderson cried off recently when he was meant to have a slight injury. That would be unforgivable in my book if true.
I do feel that the veil that many players have been hiding behind in plain sight, has been lifted during our recent relegation struggles and waiting for certain players to come good isn’t an option any more. We all know who these players are, but amongst them, there are some players who will also divide opinion.
Thanks Cat for cheering up my day . Haven’t laughed that loud or long for a good while . I assume it was written tongue in cheek ?