Mark Noble - West Ham Legend 500 up

[Crouchend_Hammer]

Yes, i would say Noble has been criminally 'wrongly used' in his West Ham career. Too many managers trying to turn him into a defensive midfielder when he should have been played further up the pitch

[Colours never run]

did a bit of digging on the Premier League stats section and compared him to average centre mids like Joe Allen, Jack Cork, Steven Davis, Harry Arter, Ndidi, Drinkwater. Passing wise he's roughly in the middle of that lot, but defensively he's well short.

Tackles and tackle % he's lower than most, but the stat that stood out was clearances. Most of those players did 50-80 clearances last season. Noble did 11.

I clearly wasn't referring to last season which I've acknowledged on numerous occasions in the past he wasn't good for most of it.

[Colours never run]

Whoscored says Nobes made 4 tackles - Obiang made 6. Nobes allegedly made 29 passes versus 55 for Obiang. Three attempted long balls - zero successful, Obiang had two out of three successful. 3 key passes for Nobes, 1 for Obiang.

Thought they were both poor when watching and there isn't much to separate them with stats.

FWIW I think a '2' of any combo from Kouyate, Obiang; Noble or even Carvalho would have been overrun against Man Utd on that day. The system was wrong.

The official site said he made 6 tackles at the time it was put up but im not going to quibble the odd tackle, he still got through plenty of work and the bit you're skirting around is the fact he did all his work with over half an hour of football to go which I pointed out originally. Obiang also made 1 critical error leading to the first goal but then that's not mentioned..

[Colours never run]

You can see the drop off in his defensive game. Lowest figures highlighted in red. Manger set up plays a part, but you can see he's way off his usual for whatever reason.

Season 16/17 - 15/16 - 14/15 - 13/14 - 12/13
Games 30 - 37 - 28 - 38 - 28
Tackles 49 - 103 - 70 - 110 - 100
Tackle Success % 61% - 72% - 76% - 73% - 75%
Blocked Shots 5 - 7 - 9 - 5 - 6
Interceptions 37 - 83 - 52 - 71 - 50
Clearances 11 - 19 - 24 - 40 - 30
Headed Clearance 7 - 7 - 12 - 11 - 4
Recoveries 182 - 236 - 199 - 310 - 220

The reason being, is because under Bilic he's been asked to play in different areas of the pitch higher up and not as a static DM which he was religiously asked to do under most of his precious managers so his defensive work would go down by comparison. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

[Colours never run]

Yes, i would say Noble has been criminally 'wrongly used' in his West Ham career. Too many managers trying to turn him into a defensive midfielder when he should have been played further up the pitch

Very true. No one I spoke to in the past about it would believe me he always should have been playing further up the pitch as it best suits his game. I saw the signs during our great escape season under Curbs he looked comfortable operating in that way. It was great to finally watch him do just that once Bilic gave him licence to join in attacks more and more during that 1st season, as well as putting the opposition under pressure.

[Aztec Hammer]

15/16 is Bilic too though.

[comebackjoecole]

I love the guy and his passion, but as a footballer I think he's holding us back.
A great player to have on the bench though, and I'd like to see them prepping him
for future management role, which he could be excellent at.

[the pink palermo]

*sigh*

Just for a few moments , specifically from 9.20 am this morning until just a few minutes ago this thread, mercifully, dropped off of page one .

But it's back .

Please Lord, give me the strength to carry on .

[Hammer1972]

I love the guy and his passion, but as a footballer I think he's holding us back.

Did you watch the game last night? Can't say I saw any sign of this.

[Pob!]

Lovely man and West Ham through and through but he is not good enough for where we want to be.
He is holding us back from moving onto the next level.
There is a reason why he hasn't been the target of a top club or picked for England.
Love the guy but he makes to many mistakes and since last season he is a liability.

[mushy]

For anyone involved in the Mark Noble cliche bingo competition, this page has been a real Godsend.
I only need 'His whole family are West Ham through and through' for a full house..

[Puff Daddy]

In fairness to him, he had a pretty decent game last night. An assist for Diafra Sakho's goal, and looked fairly comfortable on the ball too. Having said all that, that was against League 2 oppo and he won't get many more easier games than that. Very few tackles flying, Cheltenham's players, really and truthfully struggling throughout against superior pace and movement, they don't encounter in their own league, made for a pretty comfortable night for him.

[Rio]

Did you watch the game last night? Can't say I saw any sign of this.

The standard of the opposition may have had something to do with that

[Hammer1972]

Can only play what's in front of you.

[The Old Man of Storr]

Watching the way he goes up to Diafra Sakho after setting him up for his goal last night was typical of the way Mark Noble plays his role as Team Captain , proper player .

[YorksHammer]

The through ball to Sakho last night would have been a lovely pass and probably had a similar impact against any level of opposition. There were also some inch perfect balls out to the wing from him, landing right at the players feet. Byram received them pretty often, and was able to collect and then push forward in almost one movement.

[-DL-]

The standard of the opposition may have had something to do with that

Indeed. he's not been at his best for a little while. Let's not get too excited that he's had one good game against a Division 3 team.

Perhaps, sadly, if that's what we are now having to cling on to to back our arguments up about him, because he's not doing it on a regular basis for a top flight team - then actually that may be indicative that he's no longer good enough for us as a top flight team, but has plenty of miles left in the tank to do a job lower down the leagues where he can still put in performances like he did last night.

That's not a slight on Noble at all. Even the worlds best footballers go in to decline. It's nothing to be ashamed of - but his body has been playing week in and week out at the highest level plus the odd year in The Championship since he was 17 years of age. It's bound to take it's toll, especially as he has had to be our midfield combatant, and not had the luxury too much of having other players shoulder the burden for him.

Sadly, I do think it's time he played less and less of a role for our starting 11 - and clutching at straws praising his efforts against a Division 3 team as opposed to top flight teams actually confirms to me that he should play a bit part role for us from now on, even take a player/coach role or take himself off to pastures new and extend his career at a lower level, because it is starting to appear to be more evident he's no longer up to the required level of a Premier League footballer.

I will happily eat my words in he were to prove me wrong for the rest of the season - but I think the Payet season was his ultimate zenith, and from here on in, it's going to be downhill - and I'd like to see him stay with the club in some capacity, rather than him play a season or two too many and taint his remarkable career with us right at the end.

[StackerJJ]

Cant believe we have to fight his corner, he's a very valuable member of our team. Most things good than happen offensively at some point through the attack goes through him. Look at both of our goal last night he was involved in the build up for both.

Yes he's a little slower than he was, no he doesn't have as many clearances as Drinkwater and co, anybody who has watched both knows why. Noble plays from the back and seldom will you see him "boot" the ball forward, or a clearance for stat purposes. If West Ham had Vardy up from you would probably see his punts up field rise in the stats.

I'm not saying he should be first name on the team sheet and I'm not saying he should start every game but he is certainly an important player for us and has a huge part to play in the future of this club. His time is running out as we transition but to write him off is a joke.

Keep going Mark lots of us appreciate you and can see your influence as a player and a captain.

[wizzo_66]

So when Noble has a very efficient game against Cheltenham it is because it is league 2 opposition.

Yet when Masuaku, Obiang and Fernandes are pretty poor we still feel more inclined to come and chat about how Noble was only good because of who he was facing.

Why the thread was bumped this morning to say he's holding us back after last night is totally beyond me. His performance was exactly what helped us win - control, experience, game management and a lovely assist too.

Had Fernandes played the game Noble did last night, his thread would be top of page 1 to say how he's improved, starting to look sharp and what a great game he had.

[SammyLeeWasOffside]

He is holding us back from moving onto the next level.

You can't seriously believe thats down to him