Gary Lineker rushes to defence of West Ham midfielder Mark Noble
Gary Lineker rushed to the defence of West Ham midfielder Mark Noble after Athletic’s Michael Cox took a dig at him.
The journalist stated that Noble is the best at running back to the position he should have been in the first place.
This saw Lineker fire back at Cox and he even told him that football is easier to talk about than to play, which led to an interesting conversation between the pair.
Cox wrote, “Mark Noble probably the best player I’ve ever seen at running back manfully into the position he should have been in anyway.”
To which Lineker responded, “Football is a game that is so much easier to talk about how to play than it is to actually play. Especially at Premier League level. Worth bearing in mind.”
Cox then said, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t discuss their qualities. Noble was a great pro, good on the ball, very hard-working, but often very poor positionally – which I suspect is why successive England managers overlooked him even when they lacked options. I think this is fair enough.”
Lineker, not one to back down, sent a series of tweets. He wrote, “Deary me. So disrespectful and inaccurate. You’ve gone from saying he was the most out of position player you’ve ever seen to this is why he didn’t get an England cap. He would never even have played for @WestHam if this were true.”
Before finally answering to a fan, “It was a snipey, sarcastic, disrespectful and more importantly inaccurate comment about an excellent Premier League player borne out of a lack of understanding of how difficult the game is.”
Silenced him
Journalists often feel that they seem to know better than professionals that are currently playing the game.
Cox uses him not being picked for England as an excuse and he thinks that it’s strengthening his point.
However, that’s not what’s happening and the reasons for that are completely different.
For West Ham, Noble has been an absolute legend and turned out whenever the manager has wanted him to.
Hopefully, Lineker’s words silence Cox and others who constantly berate players from the luxury of their houses without ever playing a game.
As for Noble, he knows that the Hammers fans love him to death and he’s going to remain a part of the club’s history forever.
In other West Ham news, a football finance expert has made a mammoth £200m Hammers claim amid recent speculation.
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