Thomas: Kai Corbett ‘unplayable’ for West Ham U18s as Mark Noble watches big win
West Ham under 18’s put in a fantastic display on Monday to advance to the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup.
The Hammers won 5-0 away at Norwich City thanks to goals from Jayden Fevrier, Jamal Baptiste, Kai Corbett and a Mipo Odubeko brace.
Speaking on the U Irons podcast, The Athletic’s West Ham correspondent Roshane Thomas praised the youngsters for their display. He said: “There are some good players coming through.
“The team was very strong – Jamal Baptiste, Mipo (Odubeko). Kai Corbett, a striker, played so good, unplayable at times. Sonny Perkins was very good, he also caught my eye.
“The good thing about it is Mark Noble was there. A chilly afternoon in Norwich and there you have Noble, taking time out of his busy schedule to watch the under 18’s.”
Exciting times
It’s great to hear the youth team are performing well again after a bad run. Prior to this, they’d gone eight games without a win, the last coming in the third round of the competition to Luton Town.
Above all else, it’s interesting to hear that Mark Noble was in attendance. All in all he is a fantastic club captain, so there is no surprise to hear that he’s going to support the younger lads. Seeing him there would definitely have spurred them on, he’d have known that.
Maybe a role for him in the academy set-up is on the cards? It makes complete sense really. He’s someone that they would idolise. A kid from east London, who went on to captain his boyhood club and set the record for the number of Premier League appearances. He’s now just two short of 400 in the top-flight.
Mipo Odubeko scoring a brace is also excellent news. He was handed his debut against Manchester United in the FA Cup, but was pulled off after an hour. A lot of the game appeared to pass him by on the day, so it’s excellent to see him scoring again in the youth ranks.
Moyes is said to be an admirer of the youngster. If he keeps scoring goals, chances will come again with the first team. He was on the bench against Arsenal, but you feel he was just there to make up the numbers as we were limited with options.
In other West Ham news, Michail Antonio appears to be adding more to his game at the moment.