Was Noble Nobbled? Blame Basildon Irons!

(The following has been lifted from the mordant org. Bas has always been an intelligent contributor willing to risk the ire of the Klan. I hope you don't mind me carrying this Bas, given I am banned from the site it is the only way I can engage in the debate with you! I attach a response and hope others join the debate.)

Mark Noble burst onto the scene in the most emphatic way and, in my opinion, without him the great escape would never have happened. He was the real driving force behind those great performances that secured our Premier League survival; but, for me, ever since the start of last season something has been missing, he just simply has not cut it.

Now before you all start throwing abuse about me being negative and how he’s one of us and we should leave him alone (all that stuff has been thrown at me many times before on westhamfans.org) just have a real hard think about this player. He doesn’t score goals, he doesn't assist, he’s not a destroying midfielder who prevents goals and his tackling comes with a "Will Break A Leg Soon" warning; so tell me, what is he actually good at?

I think he has gone backwards in his development and for such a young player he appears terribly slow with no burst of pace whatsoever. This brings me to the point where I’m slightly confused. When Curbishley brought him through, he seemed to have all the technical attributes, apart from natural pace, needed to become a West Ham great; yet time after time I’m left totally frustrated and bemused by his performances.

In those early oh so heady days, Curbishley seemed to give him a ‘Steven Gerrard’ level of freedom, apparently sending him onto the pitch with a "just go out and play" instruction. When he did this he was top notch and the enthusiasm he showed, allied to his natural talent, was exceptional. Come the start of last season, however, he seemed withdrawn, depressed almost, with all his creative spark extinguished. It was as if Curbishley had told him to adopt a more responsible defensive role, not to get drawn too far forward, not to gamble and risk being caught out of position. Whether or not this is actually the case we will probably never know but that’s how it seemed. Like everyone under Curbishley, he picked up niggling injuries and his season never really took off. It was like a lost year, a year in the wilderness, with Noble searching for the player he once had been.

The start of this season was much the same and then enter Gianfranco Zola. I really expected someone like Zola to get the best out of Noble. I thought he would liberate him, release him from the shackles of self doubt and get him performing with his old vim and vigour. But that hasn’t happened has it? Where are those lung-busting runs into the opposition's box? Where are those fearsome tackles when tracking back to our own goal? Where are those set piece deliveries? Where are those emotional, wholesome gutsy performances that turned a team of down and outs into a team of winners, a team of fighters, a team with pride? Where has it all gone wrong for this boy?

We know he can do the business, we’ve all seen it, but for whatever reason it just isn’t happening. I’m interested to know if anyone has the same views as me but please, if all you’re going to do is yell insults, don’t bother wasting your time. I’m not having a dig, I just want to know if anyone else thinks the same as me and to hear other views on this. Is it mismanagement or is Noble simply not good enough?