Opinions

Noble must feel smug

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OPINION

West Ham midfielder Mark Noble rolled back the clock and stole the show against Manchester United during his side’s 3-1 win over them on Saturday.

The 31-year-old ran the midfield for Manuel Pellegrini against Man United and played several defence splitting passes that were a bonus to the Hammers’ attacking threat.

Several pundits have rightly emerged to shower Noble in praise for his recent antics with names like Garth Crooks, via BBC Sport, Robbie Savage, via BT Sport, Danny Murphy, via the Daily Mail all scrambling to share how great the Hammers midfielder is.

However this is a sudden U-turn by pundits as it was only matter of games ago that Noble was being highlighted as the side’s weak link, left, right and centre.

The likes of Graeme Souness, via the Times, and Martin Keown, via the Daily MailĀ were among many others who all previously panned the midfielder and suggested that he wasn’t the solution to aid Pellegrini’s quest for success.

However this massive U-turn across the board just shows how fickle pundits are as they will soon be questioning Noble’s ability if his performance against Man United was a one-off or his standards slip even in the slightest.

While Noble is no doubted flattered by his ego being significantly boosted, he can’t let their opinion get to him, as they will turn against him and try to bring him down a peg or two sooner or later.

The veteran midfielder proved that he wasn’t over-the-hill in his latest outing but needs to keep up the level of performance he submitted on Saturday in order to be worthy of all the praise that is being heaped upon him.

Hopefully this is the case as if Noble really has found his feet again in the Premier League and found a comfortable role that utilise his talents in Pellegrini’s side, then it suggests that the good times at the London Stadium are here to stay.

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