Danny Mills jumps to defence of West Ham mainstay who is treading a ‘fine line’
The last thing West Ham need right now is open dissent in their ranks.
The Hammers are struggling to right themselves after a disastrous slump over the past couple of months, but in times of strife like that, what you need more than anything is unity.
Unfortunately, as was seemingly proven by Mark Noble’s outburst against Angelo Ogbonna on Boxing Day, things aren’t exactly rosey in east London.
The veteran skipper lost it with his Italian colleague at one point during the 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace after Ogbonna gave him a mouthful for a misplaced pass.
Noble’s reaction was furious, leading to him being dragged away by Michail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell.
But Danny Mills has sought to put the incident in context.
Speaking to Football Insider, he said: “There’s always a fine line, it’s not 15 or 20 years ago where you can almost come to blows with your own teammates.
“But there’s nothing wrong with showing a bit of passion.
“I’m sure they’ve dealt with it afterwards and the manager will step in to intervene with that and deal with it.
“But it happens from time to time and there are no reasons why it shouldn’t.
“You have to give 100%, fans will accept mistakes, players will accept mistakes but if a teammate or fan feels you’re not giving 100% or you’re not willing to die for the cause, then you’re going to come in for criticism.”
You can see his point, and certainly you would say that it’s good to see a bit of fight from somebody in a Hammers shirt, but all things considered, you’ve got to be channelling that passion and aggression in the right way.
Noble should be setting an example, and he fell short of the level expected of a captain on Thursday.
Hopefully this has been dealt with behind closed doors, but truthfully, the matter should have stayed there in the first place.
In other news, Phil Thompson savages ‘nightmare’ West Ham first teamer.