OPINION
West Ham United were totally outplayed by Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday as they opened their Premier League season with a crushing 4-0 defeat, and there were plenty of talking points to take away for manager Manuel Pellegrini.
The Hammers defence looked all at sea throughout the match, and the Chilean decision to play such a high line against such a potent attack did not help matters at all.
In attack, Marko Arnautovic picked up where he left off last season with a solid display, while record signing Felipe Anderson showed glimpses of what he is capable of as well.
However it was in midfield where Pellegrini may have the biggest headache of all, with the chosen trio of Jack Wilshere, Declan Rice and Mark Noble getting completely overrun by a rampant Liverpool side.
New signing Wilshere did emerge with some credit after showing some flashes of good play, while Rice contributed well on the defensive side of things with some timely interceptions and tackles.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for captain Noble, who looked well off the pace and out of his depth against the likes of Naby Keita and Georginio Wijnaldum.
In possession, Noble was poor, with the 31-year-old consistently failing to bring the ball under control and always seeming to be on the stretch when passing the ball.
In defence, his lack of pace showed badly, with Noble unable to keep up with Liverpool’s smart play and dangerous patterns in the middle of the park.
And going forward he offered close to nothing, with his overall contribution to the match being a rather depressing sight for Hammers fans to watch.
While not every Premier League team is as quick and decisive as the Reds, Noble’s failure to make any telling impact on the match illustrated a hard truth for manager Manuel Pellegrini.
Noble is simply not good enough to be a regular feature for West Ham anymore.
No matter his connections to the club and his status as ‘Mr. West Ham’ among the fans, Noble’s use to this side is diminishing at an alarming rate, and that will eventually threaten to undermine Pellegrini’s revolution at the London Stadium.
The former Manchester City manager likes players with a bit of pace who can get around the pitch well, with Noble most certainly not being among that number.
Pellegrini must now throw sentiment out the window and firstly ditch Noble from his starting XI, before eventually phasing him out of his plans completely.
If West Ham want to progress and become a side challenging for European football then players like Noble simply have no place at the club anymore, and Pellegrini must realise that soon or this season will be another disappointment.
