Back in the summer Manuel Pellegrini made a significant comment when he made it clear that whilst Mark Noble would captain the club when he played, he didn’t know how often that would be.
And should the victory over Burnley be followed by another at Huddersfield this weekend – always assuming no injuries – you wonder where that will leave the Hammers captain.
Now, I understand that the guy’s position has been mentioned many times before because when he’s good he’s very good but when he’s poor – or lunges in as he did against Leicester City – he becomes a liability.
And that may have been what was behind the manager when in his calm and collected way he made what looks like a pretty serious point over the captaincy issue.
Given the manager’s track record of dropping players when they have a particularly poor game Nobes may have to sit it out for longer than the three games for which he has been suspended.
If we continue to win games and stay injury free, the absence could be longer than he might expect.
Things are likely to become even more dodgy in his terms when January arrives and the ambition to grab one or possibly two midfielders in the ‘window’ become a reality.
The Leicester sending off will live long in the memory because had he been on the pitch I believe we would have won the game and be six points clear of the nearest club beneath us.
The boss may have a little trouble forgetting that!
A few weeks ago James Collins commented publicly that he couldn’t see a long term future for the captain under the new manager.
The next two or three months could tell us if ‘Ginge’ was on the money or way off beam.
COYI