Mark Noble can be expected to hold onto his place on Saturday against Swansea despite Pedro Obiang having been reported ready to return from injury.
Obiang has been suffering from a muscular injury but is expected to take his place in midfield – possibly at the expense of Cheik Kouyate who – apart from a stunning goal against Spurs – has probably not been in his best form recently.
It’s a question mark which will only be answered after the manager has taken stock of every layer’s fitness.
Obiang has been in decent form and will be hard to exclude if he is fully recovered whilst Noble himself probably produced his best displays for several weeks against Spurs after his recent injury.
The other big decision the manager has to make is whether he can accommodate Arthur Masuaku in the side and drop Aaron Cresswell to the bench.
The former Hammers of the Year seems to be struggling this season and Masuaku made a huge difference down the left side when he appeared as a late sub against the North Londoners.
Noble always plays well against Spurs unfortunately in the last season and a half it has only been against them, start him against Swansea then when they go 2 0 up take him off is Bilic’s usual ploy… I would save the time and if Obiang is fully fit start him, keep Noble in reserve until the cup game against Spuds.
On ability this discussion would not be taking place . Obiang so much better in every dept and Kouyate better whilst not in best form . Add Rice and Holland and Hab…….. to the mix and Noble should not even be in the squad as he is awful . But we have the clueless Bilic factor so teams not picked on ability so who knows . COYI
And here we go again. D£#khead.
If you can’t or won’t argue the post then its better not to say anything really.
Considering performances this season only, Is have Noble ahead of Kouyate who is still feeling his way back in. The other dilemma of course is that Carroll has a great record against Swansea.
good point yes Carroll played well in that match, I expect if he doesn’t get injured between now and the weekend he would start anyway.
Wow, wasn’t it Obiang who “did a Carroll” and provided an assist to Manu U when we were nil nil? Short memories. If we are gonna destroy Nobes, let’s be consistent here and measure him against his team mates, and there are few who are covering themselves in glory currently.
Bubbles is having a field day with all these Noble related articles today.Like his Christmas has come early 😂😂
Happy Day Radai Lama . Seems to be annoying a moron, sch…….. , so even better than just telling it as I see it . Great to have a muppet wetting his pants …haha.
Another comment with no mention of Noble? You need to lie down son…..
Looks like you two have been at it all afternoon.Funny though,more entertaining than all the doom & gloom 😁
Not that my opinion counts for shyt but with every passing month Noble looks more & more like a penguin out of water in the midfield.Good lad but he aint going to get no better imo.
He played ok on Saturday but hasn’t been as good since the 15/16 season. He’s not likely to get any quicker, but I think he merits a place in the squad, probably not the first 11 of everyone is fit but he didn’t deserve the constant vitriol against him from some quarters.
Fair call Schau.I have never really got that involved in the Noble debate because i can see pros & cons when it comes to his selection.But i dont see him getting back to the 15/16 season.Personally i can only see him getting less & less effective.There are real athletes in midfield these days more than ever and its all passing him by now imo 😉
Guys, you say he won’t get any quicker – One things for sure, he can’t get any f***ing slower! Sorry, couldn’t resist, and I don’t mind the poor fella!
Would agree with that Schauthing, not sure if I am one of the vitriol merchants 😉 I have never rated him but at the same time respect the fact he loves the club and tries as hard as he can, he had his best season when Payet was here but Payet gave most of his team mates a platform to play from and the space to move about in, without him they don’t have the same amount of time to get in good positions. Lanzini is good but not in the same league as Payet at stretching teams and creating spaces for his team mates to exploit, hopefully with Arnautovic and Lanzini in the team we can address that but Noble should be a sub imho and Obiang when fit should be the defensive midfielder alongside Rice or Kouyate.
At least he ant got to the coughing,snotting & blowing like a 50 a day geezer like Nolan had.Guess theres still time though 😁
Nolan Rads, you mean our next manager mate!!!
Bubbles – do you or did you live in Australia? I ask because I met a hammers fans who posted as bubbles
Sorry Stratford but never been to Australia so it wasn’t me . Happy to share a tinny with you some time though.
2 games where Captain Slow didn’t play we didn’t lose 😆😆
Another Noble game another defeat
No brainier Obiang is the future and a half fit Kouyate is better then Noble
The talking point should be who replaces Antonio
I would play Byram who has played there a lot and gives us an option no other forward does
Slavs plan was working until the injury and the linesman thinks Kane was not interfering when 2 yards offside then 2 seconds latter score because our defenders could not get back those 2 yards
Carroll and Noble should be bench warmers no more
Bugs (?) – Bryam does give us an option no other forward does, he is a defender!
Byram would terrorise Swansea on the right-wing, but I can’t see him being preferred to Ayew. Perhaps he didn’t cost enough lol.
V8 turbo Wwwwhhhhhooooooooossssdhhhhh 💨💨💨💨💨💨♿😂😂😂
Luvhim or hate him ? He’s finished , silly having grieviences about noble , he brings nothing to the table and looks like he’s done, hes a norwiegen blue 😉 and all the hope in the world will not make him any better , needs to move on next term IMO