By CandH blogger Allen Cummings
No-one loves the special atmosphere of a London derby more than Mark Noble.
The skipper, a true east Londoner, born and bred in Canning Town, knows just how important capital bragging rights are to the West Ham faithful. Arsenal on Saturday is the first of three London derbies we will be engaged in before the end of the season.
All will prove vital in deciding our eventual fate. But could Noble’s derby days now be numbered?
It’s unlikely anyone will be more committed to the cause at the Emirates than Nobes. It will be like having one of us out there on the park – kicking every ball, straining every sinew, doing everything possible in his power to get one over on the Gunners and bring home a crucial three points.
After such an impressive and vital win over Southampton last weekend, the manager will be hard pressed in my opinion to make any changes to his starting line-up. Which I’m guessing will go down well with most West Ham fans – especially going for the win by playing two up front.
But with the impressive Tomas Soucek on the road to recovery after injury, and maybe an outside chance of him being available for the home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on March 15, could it be that Mark Noble is one player in that starting 11 whose place could be most under threat?
With Jarrod Bowen looking like becoming an invaluable asset on the right-hand side of midfield – the workaholic Pablo Fornals carving out a permanent place for himself down the left – Declan Rice now a rock solid fixture in the centre of midfield, the skipper’s place is surely the most obvious one to come under threat.
Following Wolves we go to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham Hotspur in the second of our London derbies on the 20th March.
Could it be we might have to contemplate going into that game without Noble in the starting line-up? A London derby without Nobes at the helm might have seemed virtually unthinkable not so long ago – now it must be a very real possibility.
But that’s for the future. On Saturday I’m convinced Nobes will do what he has done brilliantly for us for so long now – lead from the front. There wont be anyone in claret and blue more determined and focused on victory.
Agree Noble has been below the PL standard for last 3 seasons. Noble should have gone to Charlton instead of Cullen.Must be replaced by Soucek ASAP. No scope for sentiment when facing relagation battle! Nobe poor tackler, lacks pace, fails to mark his opponents, slows Hammers’ tempo & frequently booked. He can no longer track back for forward runs that fail to get near the ball. Sadly his time was up long ago!
Great servant to the club but no-one is above the needs of the team and we have to get 3 points. Noble is far too slow and often gets caught out of position which Arsenal will exploit. Soucek is a far better player and if he’s fit why keep him on the bench. Nobes’ time has come and Moyes has to make the call for him to step aside for the greater good.
Good piece and generally great responses . If Noble did know when his time was up he would have gone 3 seasons ago . Bowen contributed more in 80 mins than Noble has in 25 + games . He is so far of the pace it is embarrassing to watch . We are playing with 10 men and no leader . If he continues to be picked we will flounder and go down .
Hammero says it all for me . Some games his superb others now way too slow and making poor passes even getting caught out but soon he can be benched and possibly become a coach as sou returns and we also get other cover for mid defensive options. Mind you he is still king on penaltys and you don’t seem to worry about if it’s going in or not! Imo
The worrying thing for me is nobes will probably be aware that his West Ham career would most likely be prolonged or helped by a drop to the championship. I’m not saying nobes would want us to be relegated, I’m just saying that it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for Noble. If we were relegated we would lose souchek for starters and we would have trouble attracting the quality of a souchek in the championship. Meanwhile we would probably need a player like Noble in the championship much the same as we needed a Nolan back in the day.
The difference between the Noble now scenario and Nolan then is that Nolan was still in his twenties and scoring 8-10 a season…
Really Viv?? Do you really believe Noble’s mind would work that way?
Mark Nobel’s time was up two seasons ago. Just because you are a local lad it doesn’t mean that sentiment dictates your place in a team and playing in the most competitive football league in the world. Everyone (Pele included) has a best before date!
Spot on
Noble is as we all say West Ham thru and thru, he has been a great servant to our club. I know that he will put the club first and step back to let the younger fitter and faster players come into the team when needed. He could possibly one day be our Manager and has the experience and knowledge to know when a player (even himself) is off the pace and will react accordingly.
Nice piece, Allen.
My one concern is that Noble’s leading from the front means he certainly cannot get back to where he is supposed to be..
Great leader, but currently must be the most ineffective midfielder in the league. Rarely scores from open play, way too slow in movement, and in releasing ball. Great servant, although I doubt any big club has ever shown any interest so don’t buy the loyalty accolades he receives, but certainly time to take a far reduced role in squad