Mark Noble has pleaded for backing not booing from the fans who roared their disapproval after the team’s 2-1 win over Hull
Sections of the fans roundly booed as Sam Allardyce’s men struggled to see of City’s 10 men.
He said: “I must admit the anxiety from the stands can spill on to the pitch and get into our minds.
“When that happens, some players can be affected and they make mistakes that they would not normally make. I think you could see that in our performance last night,” the midfielder added on the club’s website.
He added: “I would ask that you give your backing to the boys because I can tell you that we are giving 100 per cent for the shirt and 100 per cent for West Ham United.”
Noble added: “I appreciate that we did not play our best football and that, at times, it wasn’t pretty.
“But sometimes it just doesn’t happen for you as a team and as individuals, no matter how hard you try.
“We know that you have spent your hard-earned money to watch us and we desperately want to put a show on for you in every game.
“Together we are stronger, so let’s stick together and make sure we get as many points as possible from our last seven games.”
I think the fans have every right to show their frustration, win lose or draw. I feel sorry of Mark Noble having to defend the team and plead with the crowd not to boo, because he always puts 100% effort in whenever he pulls on the shirt. I wasn’t at the game, just viewing from afar, and correct me if I am wrong but the booing would be directed at one man, not the team.
Sam Allardyce is a good football manager, there’s no argument about what he did for the club, and as a manager with some standing in the game, he did a good thing for us when we were down by joining us, and getting the team back where they deserved to be.
But what about the way we play. Ugly but effective, sometimes, but more often, not really working. We rely on teams making mistakes because we are kicking and rushing them , but the teams we come up against can handle that most of the time so the percentages aren’t really in our favour.
We aren’t getting the best out of the players we have by just sticking to this hoof it forward and stick em under pressure tactic. Stoke City recently put us to the sword with incisive breakaway goals, better ball retention, and pressure balls when it was necessary. Stoke for crying out loud! We are the only team left in the Premiership who employ anything like the 19th Century tactics Mourinho moaned about and it’s almost too ugly to watch. Sam laughed that day when Jose commented on us parking the bus, but who is laughing now? Not me.
Sam ‘s fan interaction with his cupped hand is more than he gave when we were getting whipped out of site only a few short weeks ago. Then he sent Neil McDonald out to make his excuses. Now he has saved us from the drop we should be grateful ! I think we should thank Vincent Tan and Shahid Khan just as much for Cardiff and Fulham saving us from the drop as anything Big Sam has done.
I wonder what goes through the head of the guy, to watch the football we play and deem it acceptable? Is he getting the best from the team? Andy Carroll can win headers and flick on’s all day long, but the policy of hitting him long leaves him isolated and surely frustrated. Is the sole intention is just to hope he gets fouled so we can send up more troops? Wingers that have to run 30 yards with the ball just to get up to where Carroll can be set up, and never try to cut inside and turn the play? In the 1950’s maybe but today? We miss out the midfield as an attacking option half the time so Noble just becomes another line of defence rather than a quarterback running the plays. Kevin Nolan is great when things are dropping for him but what do we create through him?
I must admit I got quite excited at the prospect of seeing Nocerino when we signed him, hoping that we would retain the ball and build from midfield, but he hasn’t had a chance to impact any games. Borrielo looks to be handed the same fate if he gets fit in time, and what has happened to Armero? A proven defender with pace and attacking intentions, mothballed without so much as a run out from the bench. What a waste!
But my biggest gripe is Sam doing a Gordon Brown and giving away the gold. What the hell is going on with Ravel? Too injured to play for Sam, apparently needing surgery on a hernia, yet he gets 90 minutes every game for QPR in a league that is deemed ‘ a bit more physical’!!! And not just wandering around warching the ball sail over him. Big Sam’s ego and one dimensional tactics mean he is unprepared to waiver from Nolan in the 10 role, so he gives away our potentially greatest asset to Harry Redknapp, who doesn’t understand the behaviour problems everyone talks about. Ravel seems to be working quite well in a role just behind a big guy who wins the ball and feeds him in. Shame we don’t have anyone who fits that bill… Oh wait…
So as I sit here looking at my ticket for the visit of Liverpool on Sunday week and wondering quite what they will do to us when we are so stretched out by our won tactics. They will room enough to run us to ground, and it will be down to Ginge and Adrian to try and stop the SAS from taking us apart.
Will Sam be honest enough to realise the reason the crowd are giving him stick and tell the team its not aimed at them? Should he tell them that Mark Noble , a true Hammer in every sense , who deserves so much more for the performances he has put in once again this season, has no reason to apologise to the crowd and ask for support for the team, and that it is Allardyce himself who is responsible for the crowd’s disappointment?
Sam if you ever get to read this, they weren’t booing you because of the way you set the team up for the Hull game and how you got them to play against 10 men. Its for the Forest game , the City semi finals, the Stoke game, the woeful team selections and the dreadful tactics, which have to stop. You said recently you would be mad to change a winning team after our purple patch 4 weeks ago, but you changed nothing as we lost 3 on the bounce, a first for us in the Prem. George McCartney still lobs every ball up a high as the air pressure will allow and Demel still humps it forward as far as he can every time. When will you see what is happening and make the changes? Because if you don’t you will be cupping both hands to your ears , listening to see if you can hear if anyone has turned up to support the brand of football you expect the team to serve up.
If its really just all about getting to the Olympic Stadium debt free, then fair enough at least we know the club’s goal’s , but how will they feel when we have an Olympic size stadium and a team playing Old Div 1 style in front of smaller and smaller crowds?
How will that help the finances Mr Chairmen?