Tony Cascarino sang the praise of West Ham midfielder Mark Noble following the club’s 3-1 win over Watford.
The pundit praised Noble for his leadership skills, his attitude, his ability to inspire with his performances and highlighted that he always gives everything to the Hammers.
Cascarino then name-dropped several Hammers legends when hinting that Noble is up there with the great midfielders of West Ham’s past.
“Well Mark’s biggest standout attribute is his attitude and his desire to play for West Ham,” said Cascarino on talkSPORT (6:56am, Sunday August 25th).
“His leadership on and off the pitch, he has been a spokesman for the club at times, he has led by inspiring with his performance, he never ever gives anything other than 100%.
“He is always giving everything to West Ham, he wears the club badge brilliantly, I’ve been lucky enough to meet Mark and you get why he is a West Ham man as he is totally focused on them.
“And West Ham have had some great midfielders, I mean great, I was lucky enough to live near Billy Bonds, what a person he was in real life, and Trevor Brooking with his leadership on the field, they’ve had a few, Alvin Martin who works for the station and he just has the ingredients of everything good about being a West Ham man, that is Mark Noble.”
OPINION
Cascarino couldn’t heap any more praise on Noble if he tried as he didn’t just gush about him on the pitch but raved about what type of person he was off it, and it’s fair to say the Hammers captain deserved all the kind words that were uttered about him. This is especially the case when you consider how good Noble was in his first appearance of the season against Watford on Saturday. Noble may have missed out on featuring against Manchester City and Brighton due to injury, but he fitted straight back into Manuel Pellegrini’s side against the Hornets. The 32-year-old scored from the penalty spot to put the Hammers ahead then completed a staggering 93.9% of the 43 passes he attempted (Source: WhoScored). Noble also noticeably demonstrated his phenomenal leadership skills as once Watford pulled a goal back to make the game 1-1, the 32-year-old was barking orders at his teammates and reassuring them in order for their chins to stay up. While Noble will never be a player to steal the headlines for the Hammers, he is effectively a legend-in-waiting having impressed for the club for so long.
