Exclusive: McAvennie concerned about West Ham captain Noble after display v Man Utd
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie was worried about what he saw from midfielder Mark Noble when West Ham were knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United last week.
Noble, 33, played all 120 minutes of the 1-0 extra-time defeat at Old Trafford but struggled to keep up with Man United’s midfield, according to McAvennie.
The ex-West Ham striker believes that could be down to Noble’s lack of playing time this season with the Irons captain starting just seven matches in all competitions.
“Mark Noble was back in it against Man United and I know he’s played every game in the cup but it’s one of them. I don’t know,” McAvennie told West Ham Zone.
“I thought he was out of pace. You can tell when you’ve not played for ages and you’re playing against players like Fred, who were running about by him.”
Noble has well and truly lost his regular starting spot in the West Ham midfield this season with in-form duo Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek making the two central spots their own.
Whenever Noble has come into the side to start, it would be fair to say that he’s struggled.
In his three Premier League starts, the Hammers have lost to Newcastle and Chelsea and drawn 2-2 with Brighton.
Moyes has played Noble in a more advanced central role, which could be to counter against his lack of physical fitness, which would be more exposed by opposing attackers if he was to play deeper.
However, it simply hasn’t worked and unfortunately, Noble is becoming a casualty of how well this Hammers team is performing at the moment.
Noble is Mr West Ham so we don’t want to see him going anywhere any time soon.
However, the midfielder’s contract does expire at the end of the season so there are bound to be questions raised in the coming months.
In other West Ham news, Moyes claims there’s a lot more to come from the Irons after their win over Sheffield United.