noblecause wrote:Turned the tide of the game for us today. Constantly showing for the ball and then moving it FORWARD!! It's amazing how much more threatening a team can be when that happens. Obiang and Kouyate were terrible.
he played very well, but he had the advantage of much better movement ahead of him 2nd half, and also played against a rapidly tiring West Brom team
As i said on another thread, I thought Obiang played pretty well first half, esp given the lack of movement from everyone and Kouyate going missing
Noble and Obiang should be the first choice pairing
A great man. But average midfielder. Turned the game tonight but we still need a couple of CM this month if we are to be comfortably safe. Carvalho and Wiltshire would do....but alas I suspect those two ships have sailed.
He seemed to fill the midfield up all on his own....tremendous stuff, as mentioned on commentary (Tony Gale?) think he saved Ogbonna a booking as well by talking to the ref .
We were heading for a loss without him in the first half and eventually won with him back in it. No surprise, he's been doing this for years now. We really do struggle to win games without him.
I hope things like this make those realise just what he offers when he does play and when he doesn't.
Oh and Ogbonna can thank his Captain from getting a yellow after his hissy fit in front of the ref. Captains role.
Hugh Jargon II wrote:A great man. But average midfielder. Turned the game tonight but we still need a couple of CM this month if we are to be comfortably safe. Carvalho and Wiltshire would do....but alas I suspect those two ships have sailed.
If you mean an average Premier League midfielder, I think Noble can take that as a big compliment. For anyone to be average in this league, say a mid table midfielder, that's very consistently good at this level. If however you mean worse than that, then think you'd be wide of the mark.
You need footballers centre midfield simple as that. Someone to dictate the pace of the game and always be available for a pass. Something Kouyate nd Obiang can't offer. He's the second name on the team sheet for me after Arnie.
In the first half we simply had zero presence in the middle of the pitch. Noble filled that role in the second half and ran the show. Without that substitution we would have carried on as we where. Captain Fantastic and remains, when fit, the first name on the team sheet.
Why is he constantly refereed to as simple, I can't stand that word to describe him, he is simple as he excels at what he does which is retain possession, make the side tick, sits when he needs to, offers an outlet, currently he is our most important player till we get someone else who can pass the ball in centre midfield. He is a average version of a Carrick, Alonso etc but it is a vital role in our side and any side really/
The big difference he made was in getting the ball to Lanzini in attacking areas.
During his absence Lanzini has generally had to attempt to win the ball to get any possession, or at least advance from deep in our half with a whole team to beat to get to any sort of threatening area.
It's disappointing how we have allowed ourselves to neglect the recruiting of a single defensive midfielder for two and a half years....Oh wait,there was a Norwegian bloke briefly