But if not Noble, then who? Vaz Te certainly deserved consideration. He was lively throughout and his strike was fabulous, albeit Collison was in a better position had the mercurial Portugese played the ball back. Given the finish nobody could complain, but had he missed...
Tomkins and Reid were very good but what threat did Cardiff offer? They barely crossed the half way line!
Nolan had a goodish game but came off, and Noble was much more prominent in midfield. O'Neil too was lively and forced a brilliant save with that lovely shot from the edge of the box, but again Noble used the ball better and saw much more of it. Collison doesn't really come into the reckoning.
Taylor would have been a fair shout in my opinion - the corner we scored from was delicious - and he performed well in the left back role. Demel was as good, if not better, and his pass for the Vaz Te goal was superb.
Cole didn't cover himself in glory and Green had nothing to do so neither need trouble us here. It was a great finish from Maynard but he wasn't on the field long enough to qualify. Only Beckham gets MOTM for a fifteen minute stint!
So did Noble deserve MOTM? Maybe he did. The point is, he was again the hub of the team and his positioning, awareness and passing were a crucial factor in us controlling the game. Did he make a mistake? I can't think of one. I would love to see his Optima stats for completed passes and winning tackles - I bet he was close to perfect.
So why do the Noble knockers persist in attacking the guy? Simples, to quote Pulp Fiction, pride is fcuking with them . As each game goes by, so Noble looks better and better. It's time for his critics to show some humility, recognise his talents and celebrate that the Academy has produced another gem.
13 comments:
Anony-mouse says,
I think it was hard to call our MOTM on Monday cos so many of them were so bloody good. You could have given it to any one of about half a dozen players- Reid, Tomkins, Taylor, the excellent Demel, O'Neill or yes, Mark Noble.
It's by the by really- we have so many players peaking at the right time. A lot of us, myself included slagged Nolan off for large chunks of the season but he has now come good and is a proper leader. Maybe it is that his family are down here now and he is settled. Cole is looking a top class player- he played within himself on Monday, but he'd done his work in this tie in that first leg.
One last thing- as good as we were against Cardiff, we had other gears to go through if necessary. That's quite scary really- we outclassed good opposition without having to go into top gear. It's been pretty impressive lately.
Parker should have got MoM easily
Noble has seemed to be playing a lot better these days for 3 main reasons:
1.Nolan has been pulled back more in to the centre of midfield rather than just having a near enough free role just off the main striker. This obviously gives him more cover in midfield.
2. The introduction of O'Neil into the team has given us an energy that we have been missing in the midfield since the days of Reo-coker.
3. We are playing a much better pressing game which is taking nearly all the pressure of our DM and back 4.
These 3 reasons are why Noble is getting a lot more time and space to play the ball around. However when the big press doesn't work and he is slighly exposed I have been watching his positioning and it is not very good. Also in the middle of the park he still gets killed when someone runs at him. So all in all I still wouldn't fancy him being our anchor in midfield in the premiership (if we gwet there)but he is definitely looking a better player because of those 3 reasons.
I think stani and sav are looking back through the game over and over until they find at least one mistake Noble made so they can try exile him for that one mistake and how it could have changed the game Lol. Surprisingly my man of the match was Nolan as not only did he get the important goal to seal the victory i saw him charging forward, making a few tackles and picking a few good passes but once he went off Noble took center stage once again and was involved in everything. I consistently stick up for Noble and always have done not because hes a west ham lad but due to his ability but another gem from the academy we will see he had his confidence ruined by zola in the prem and grant did not help anybody but ive seen noble have excellent games in the prem and some poor ones but with the extra time and space afforded to you in the prem i reckon if he continued to play like this in the prem he would be very good indeed. He is definitely better then charlie adam and liverpool paid 10 mil for him so if he apparently makes a decent prem player im sure Noble will make a very good prem player
Trying to goad Stani & Sav are you HF? a bit of a disingenious post if you ask me, given your almost weekly complaints about his lack of speed and propensity to give away silly free kicks last season and early in this.
But - let's answer your question - yes he was the MOTM - he always makes himself available and keeps the team ticking. But let me ask another more important question, if we go up, will he continue to be the player he has been this year? I think the jury is still out - in our great escape of 2007, he was, with Tevez and Green, the architect of that tremendous run in the last 10 games - so he can do it at that level. Freed from impositions of playing with Parker, has Big Sam been using him as people always should have? or will his lack of pace be exposed? Hopefully, we will find out next season!
YES HE WAS
I agree, the only sad aspect of Noble's fantastic season is that because it was all done in the championship, he hasn't been noticed as a candidate for the England squad for the Euros.
maybe next time around if we can get over Blackpool / Birmingham hurdle...
Nothing you say can change the fact that he is slow, can't tackle and can't create play. So there you have it. Lansbury gave a perfect assist to Maynard in a few minutes that he was on the field the kind of which I am still waiting to see from your Mr. Perfect.
Spot on Anonymouse. God, have I just typed that? Time for bed!
Sav, that is cobblers. He puts in some fantastic tackles and he now controls the play. Take off your blinkers for pity's sake! And tell me, what the fcuk were the Greek electorate thinking of?
Anony-mouse says,
I've kept out of this one, but it's been fun to watch Sav and Stani take on HF over this. I'm probably going to get bundled now by all of you but fwiw I don't think any of you guys are right. Noble is a decent player but he is not as good as HF makes out. However he is not as bad as Stani and Sav say he is (or want him to be?) either. Anyway- sorry to interject in a private row- I'll leave you lads to it :)
I've rumbled you Anonymouse! You're Trevor Brooking! You've sat so firmly on the fence on this one you have splinters in your arse! I'm nt calling him Messi, by the way, nor am I saying he is good enough for England - yet - but he has been very impressive in THIS division and fully deserves his plave in the Best 11. Will he train on in horse racing parlance and make the step up to the Prem? I think so. Will he play for England? I'm beginning to think he might.
noble plays the same role for west ham as scholes does for man u, does scholes have lightning pace? or does he keep the ball and dictate the pace? and how exactly did his retirement go for man u? noble also takes a good penalty, people are letting the past cloud their opinion of him in this west ham team. how quick is xavi by the way? the best passing cm of the last 10 year, last time i checked he has never beat a man for pace in his life. so the question is do you need walcotts pace to play that cm role scholes/xavi and noble play, the answer is no
Anony-mouse says,
It'd be nice f you were right HF. He's been there before and didn't set it alight- it'd be great if he could kick on. As for England- he needs to improve but England aren't overburdened with world class central midfielders so I suppose it can't be entirely ruled out. I can't imagine it myself but I hope I'm wrong for once ;)
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