Matt Le Tissier revealed he was convinced that West Ham midfielder Mark Noble dived during the 0-0 draw with Aston Villa in a bid to win a penalty.
The Hammers captain went down when in the box, before quickly jumping back to his feet, and Le Tissier believes that Noble tried to initiate contact with a Villa defender in order to win a spot-kick.
Le Tissier urged talkSPORT’s Ian Abrahams to re-watch the incident closely and check out Noble flicking his right leg, the pundit also pointed out that given that Noble didn’t appeal for a penalty, it was clear the player knew what he had done.
“Yep watch his right leg flick out to try to initiate contact, got up quick without appealing cos he knew what he’d done,” wrote the pundit via his verified Twitter account.
Yep watch his right leg flick out to try to initiate contact, got up quick without appealing cos he knew what he’d done
— Matt Le Tissier (@mattletiss7) September 16, 2019
OPINION
Noble sprung back to his feet after hitting the deck and you would like to think he tripped and fell over rather than threw himself to the ground. However, it did look more like a dive than the midfielder simply slipping and if that’s the case he should feel a little disappointed in his actions. Noble clearly wants West Ham to win at all costs, but it’s never great to see a player attempt to deceive the match official. Aside from that questionable incident in the game for the Hammers captain, he did generally impress against Villa. The experienced midfielder was the only Hammers player to register a shot on target and he maintained a decent pass completion rate of 77.1%, as per WhoScored, in order to keep his side in possession of the ball whenever possible. Noble has featured in three of the Hammers’ Premier League outings this season, he missed a few games due to injury and has proved his worth as he has averaged a solid rating of 7.07 across his displays (Source: WhoScored).
