We had a go - for 20 minutes, says Noble

  • by Staff Writer
  • Tuesday, 1st May 2018

Captain Mark Noble says that Manchester City are the best Premier League team he has ever faced.

The Citizens thrashed West Ham 4-1 at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday afternoon, with some supporters and pundits - including the BBC's Alan Shearer - maintaining that West Ham had perhaps not been fully committed to taking on the new champions.

Noble's view was clear; there was little the Hammers could have done to avoid defeat - even though it may not been received too favourably in some quarters.

Embed from Getty Images


"In all the years I’ve been playing in this league, they’re the best team I’ve played against," he told the club's website. "There's no point saying 'we could have done this' or 'we could have done that', because we were beaten by a much better team.

"We had a go in the first half in the last 20 minutes, Cressy scored a really good free-kick and I haven’t seen Marko Arnautovic’s 'goal' yet so I don’t know if it’s a foul on their ‘keeper - but they were way too good.

"Congratulations to City, their players, their staff and their manager because they are champions and they are by far the best team in this league."

However some fans were disappointed by the club captain admitting that there was nothing the Hammers could have done to avoid being thrashed on their own doorstep.

"It's vry sad to read that sort of apologism for failure," wrote KUMB member Het-Field. "Implicitly it’s saying 'we did all we could, but that didn’t matter as it was always going to happen'.

"That of course is not the case. It was a truly awful performance which has drawn the ire of pundits and fans. For a captain to say that is breathtaking bad judgement."

Whilst fellow member smuts called the lack of effort on the team's part against City "embarrassing". "We did all we could? Bloody hell!" he wrote. "Hardly any tackles going in, players hiding and so on.

"They've either given up this season and hope we stay up due to the failings of others, or Moyes told them to save themselves for Leiciester."

* Something to say about this story? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.



More News