Before his injury, Mark Noble was having a quietly impressive season for West Ham. In fact, I think it was only Robbie Savage out of all the pundits that I noticed singing his praises.
But is it time to let him have a go for England? I think it could be good for country, but perhaps not so much for club.
I mean, the stats from this season are really impressive for Nobes – from the most tackles won to his 100% penalty conversion.
Here’s a comparison of Noble for international duty against the players that have been called up in front of him as of November 2012 (courtesy of @EPLStatman).
The only thing that concerns me is that he could do a James Tomkins. What I mean by that is, he goes away for international duty and then just isn’t the same for his club. Tomkins seemed to go backwards at the start of this season after the Olympics, and the fact he missed pre-season and then didn’t even feature internationally made it all seem like a waste of time.
I think the England midfield is in a state of transition, as Gerrard and Lampard definitely won’t be playing internationally for too much longer, and I don’t see any reason why Noble can’t get a shot at the big time. Noble captained the under-21s, so I would assume that Hodgson will have him in the back of his mind somewhere!
Noble told BBC Sport that he’d love the opportunity, saying: “I’ve got ambitions and goals and to be involved in something like that would be fantastic, but I’ve got to prove myself first,”
“I’m just back in the Premier League this year. If you work hard, hopefully you make those goals come true.Every manager has their own opinions of players. At the minute I’m thoroughly enjoying things and if that day does happen, then I will enjoy it just that little bit more.”
Our Premier League status will have surely helped his cause as well. But what do you think? Should Nobes be given a go? Or does he not make the grade for England? Leave a comment or tweet me at @alwaysintune.
if he scored more goals i think he would be in with a chance.