The Mark Noble issue
Watching players coming to the end of their career is never easy. I was there for Mooro, Devo, Sir Trev and Billy Bonds.’ It really was as sad as anything I can remember and you close your eyes simply wanting it to go away.
It never does!
Now it’s Mark Noble’s turn to be at the centre of that emotional and sympathetic reaction because however much we don’t want to believe or accept it, the end – as we used to say – is nigh.
He can’t get forward and he can’t get back at the pace required in modern Premier League football – that’s age! To compound the problem he is too regularly resorting to fouls – usually in dangrous positions.
None of this is his fault. Time marches on relentlessly and finds every one of us out but sometime soon Slaven Bilic has to face the worst job in the world and explain the issue to Mark
Cheik Kouyate is on his way back and the move for William Carvahlo is particularly significant because should we succeed in getting him, he will walk straight into the team along with Cheik.
It seems to me the preparations are being made to break to saddest news in the world to the skipper and word is that Kouyate could be fit for the weekend.
He probably won’t start but I’d bet that once again Nobes is withdrawn at some stage to make way for him.
As I said at the start this is all incredibly sad and I have taken no pleasure in writing a single word of it but reality bites and I believe Slaven has the most unenviable job in the world facing him sometime very soon.