West Ham Player Analysis Review: Holding Midfielders
By Adam Smith
West Ham needed to add some star power to their midfield this offseason, but the promotion of Declan Rice and addition of Jack Wilshere and Carlos Sanchez have yet to elevate West Ham’s play in their most dire position.
In our rating system we will be giving marks out of 10, with 5/10 for playing as expected. Whilst some newspapers and the like seem to give 6 or 7 out of 10 for an average display and may make this seem harsh, we think this makes sense. It also easily allows us here to put the West Ham players in opposite categories, for example, a 9/10 is as good as a 1/10 is bad.
Mark Noble 3/10
It pains me to say it but Mark Noble doesn’t look up to it so far this season. He started in a midfield trio beside Rice and behind Wilshere in the opening match to Liverpool and was abysmal. The entire team looked well behind Liverpool’s quality, but the midfield was easily passed through by the likes of Naby Keita. Likewise, he was a non-factor in West Ham’s 2-1 home loss to Bournemouth.
As a captain Noble has been integral in the West Ham team, demanding the most out of teammates amidst relegation battles the last two seasons and setting the example for effort and heart on the pitch. However, due to injury he has lost a step and has looked more like a passenger than a driver on West Ham this season.
Noble opened up about the recent injury troubles he’s had over the past two years. During a procedure to fix an abdominal hernia, doctors discovered six hernias and a split in Noble’s abdominal muscles. Noble was playing through these injuries in 2017 to help secure Premier League survival, truly showing his heart and determination for West Ham but these things catch up to a player.
As it stands Noble returned to the bench for Wolves after a back injury kept him out against Wimbledon and Arsenal. Moving forward he may be featured more as a bench option in a player-coach sort of role to keep team speed up and preserve his physical health.
Games: 2
Goals: 0
Assists: 0
Shots: 0
Tackles: 4 (25% success)
Interceptions: 0
Clearances: 0 (0 headed)
Recoveries: 14
Duels: 7-9
50/50s: 0
Aerial Battles: 0-1
Passes: 129
Through Balls: 0
Accurate Long Balls: 12