I read this week that Kevin Nolan thought that West Ham were to good to be relegated and insisted that we won’t be dragged into a relegation dog fight. Is this the right time for Kevin Nolan to be coming out with such outlandish comments to the tabloids or should he have just kept his head down and concentrated on his game and getting the team ready for a tough run ahead?
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Since Christmas results have been very hit and miss, although we had a fantastic result against a superb Swansea team there have been many results that have left a lot to be desired and with Kevin Nolan’s loss of form recently I would have thought it best to have kept these kind of comments to himself and just proved it on the pitch. I in favour of being confident and getting the team ready and confident for the games ahead but I feel that the comments from Kevin Nolan are arrogant. This is the same Kevin Nolan that in the 08-09 Premier League season said the exact same thing during his time at Newcastle and come the end off the season saw his Newcastle team relegated to the Championship.
With a tough run coming up with the next four games been Tottenham Hotspur, Stoke City, Manchester United and Chelsea I hope that I am proved wrong and Kevin Nolan’s comments have instilled a grit and determination into the team and helped push them on. I just hope that it hasn’t gone the other way and added more pressure to a team that are fighting for confidence, regardless it will be interested to see.
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My personal opinion is that as captain of a club he shouldn’t be coming out with such arrogant comments, Nolan has enough Premier League experience to realise that you have to try and remove the pressure from yourself when struggling for results and put it onto the opposition your playing and with these comments he has done the opposite and put all the pressure on to West Ham for results. Some fans might argue that he is trying to drive the team for results but as I said it didn’t work for him at Newcastle United.
I do think that we will survive but I would never be so bold to say that West Ham are too good to go down, this is the Premier League after all, the best League in the world and there is only a handful that could say they will be safe come the end of the season. This is our first season back in the Premier League so our current run of form shouldn’t come as much as a surprise, we were always going to hit a bumpy patch and start to find things tough. I just hope Kevin Nolan is right and proves it on the pitch because his performances of late haven’t matched what he has said to the tabloids.
So is Kevin Nolan right or has he shown arrogance with his comments to the press?
Carl Bateson
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Considering how useless he has been and he starts every week then yes he has shown unbelievable arrogance.
I think he has been very poor for weeks, and the fact that he starts every week because he is Captain is not good for him it causes complacency , Why shouldn’t he have to fight for his place like everyone else. Tomkins confidence has returned and against Villa he was superb as mentioned by the commentators, YET HE will be pushed aside once Collins is fit. For me Collins and Jussi worry the life out if me as you never know especially with Collins what he is going to do.From the side of the goal where l sit l can see this
Carl – interesting article but my guess is you haven’t had to be a leader before. Sometimes you have to say things which are designed to give your team ( which includes the supporters here as well ) confidence even though deep down you are not so sure yourself. He is the best captain we have had since Lucas Neill and probably before. So best to get off his back and let him do what he has done well for a decade.
‘What he does well’ is wander around shouting at his own team and referees, as well as a bit of goalhanging…..
I beg to differ my friend
You cant be serious…hes a goalhanging waste of space my friend, way past his sell by date. We play with 10 men every time hes selected. Captains MUST lead by example. Hes all mouth and no end product and has been for months.
Carl – probably his record is a better indicator of what he does well than either of our personal views. 13 consecutive seasons playing in the league , 500 plus games and 99 goals. 1 in 5 for a midfielder is pretty good. And undisputed captain and leader at all three of his clubs. So the facts speak for themselves . Maybe a more interesting question is why with a dozen games to go and survival in the balance you would want to publicly undermine our captain when he is trying to rally the troops ?
Mate, that is like saying Fat Ronaldo is still as good now as he was 10 years ago. Nolan has lost it, get over it. No one can honestly say he has played well recently. The captaincy side of things we have Reid or Noble who could both be great captains. If you have the respect of the dressing room which both of them do, there is a very high chance you will be a good captain. Nolan does a lot of shouting at his own guys for someone who has been playing so terribly.
I did state in the article i understood what his intentions were, but i believe it to be arrogance, like i said it didnt do Newcastle any good did it, all those facts you pointed out
mr moon I make you right & what you’re saying makes sense to most but for some people it is far easier to criticise than to praise!
The captain is just sucking up to the manager. Kevin Nolan had a good period with us at the start if the season but his legs are not capable of running 90 minutes any more. It’s time Sam realised personal friendships should not influence team selection.
Exactly right Dan. Sams favouritism and stubbornness with team selections and tactics are not doing us any good. People can point to the league position all they want but under him we will never improve unless he changes his mindset.
Spot on Dan. Nolan is a spent force and has been an embarrassment for months.
Nolan is off form but we saw signs that he’ll be back now Carroll is back in the team. He is also our top scorer. I’d sooner drop that sideways passing local boy Noble. Over-rated player who creates nothing.
For me the problem is keep chopping and changing the team around.
We beat Swansea and were the best we have been this year so why change it for a game agaist a very poor villa.
The same with them lot on Monday if he drops a now almost back to his best Tompkins what will it do for the lads confidence.
And Welly, Collison get them on the bench we need options when Carroll is marked out the game by two CB’s
I have to say that Nolan hasn’t been playing well lately and only when he scores do we accept this,the formation with him starting is between 4 5 1 and 4 4 2,Sam has to start going 442 at home,with a “real” frontman alongside Carrol,too negative at home with Nolan,but Sam hasn’t the balls to drop his mate,so its fingers crossed till end of season,I can’t see us getting more than 9 pts with our fixtures
I wouldnt necessarily say Nolan is a bad player but if he is not scoring he bring to little to our game especially for a midfielder. Add to that the fact that he has clearly been tired since he is not a young lad anymore and has been playing week in week out. I’d much rather see J.Cole playing his preferred central position behind Andy… at least on current form.
I wouldnt get rid of Nolan altogether but i would use him as more of an impact sub and i think that is a role he will have to get used to in the coming years. Since he doesnt have the legs (or skill to compensate) to be an effective midfielder why not push him up top? … he clearly has an eye for goal. Say we are 1-0 down chasing a game…why not switch our 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 or even 3-5-2 (for instance) and play Nolan next to Andy. It wouldnt require him running as much and he would have more chances to score.
just my 2 cents.
terrible article – of course he is right to say that ! we ARE too good to go down. obviously its the premiership and anyone can get relegated but if we can get a few more points at home then we will never be in danger of relegation. i agree that his performances havent been great. but you have to remember he is an attacking player who sniffs out goals rather than creating them, allardyce is a defensive manager and attacking players will always struggle to perform well under big sam. i think we need to give nolan a break, he scored a lot of important goals in the championship, and without him we may stil be there – traveling to leeds and crystal palace every week!! he’s played pretty poor the last few months, but give the man a break.
Calling a terrible article when you agree no club is to good to go down in the Premier League is a bit strange to be honest.. am not knocking Nolan am saying IMO its the wrong thing to do saying we are to good to go down which you agree with
We were to good to go down with Carrick Cole Defoe Dicanio etc, but we did go down, and almost everyone abandoned ship, so Kevin zip your mouth shut, get back in the real world and work your poxy socks off and give us fans value for money, cos at this present time your not worth 50k per week your paid, Noble is worth ten of you, and he works ten times harder every game, carrying you in the process
Carl – one of the roles of a journalist is to create debate. So you are doing a good job. What is great about being a West Ham fan is that we all agree on the end goal – just a few disagreements on the route ! But what ‘s a few cross words in a family.
Exactly my friend if people are reading it and commenting i have got there attention.