The View from Away – Let’s talk about Sex(y Mark Noble)

Okay, anyone who knows me knows I have not always been a fan of Mark Noble. Consider me appropriately chastised. The dude was the engine that drove our midfield and really provides a cohesive “glue” for the club.

However, as Dave Walker and ExWHUEmployee pointed out on their podcast this week, no one (and maybe not even Pellegrini)  has Mark Noble in their starting line up next year. Yet, as pointed out on Twitter all last year, Mark just kept going and going, and got stronger as the year went on (that’s my opinion). So what happens next year…

Mark Noble remains a competent midfielder. His passing and vision for the game is as good as it has ever been. Mark is not a fast footballer (his pace is decent, but not outstanding). His body has stood up pretty well to the test of time, and he has produced some lovely goals (think the worldy versus Leicester last year or his goal against Watford in our final fixture this year).

He’s clearly the person to take penalties. His conversion rate is good such that he is recognized as one of the best in the Premier League ever. West Ham depends on him getting to the spot and converting. He has 35 penalty goals in his career, which is outstanding. Frankly, he would have more if West Ham played on the floor more in his career, but his rates are still good.

When he is not playing, West Ham suffers. The cohesion in midfield is lacking, and the players need someone to follow. I suspect we will see Mark on the bench to start a lot of games next year. So the question is who gets the armband? Ideally, since they play in an English league with English officials, we need a player who is more than just passing-fluent in the language.

That eliminates a good number of starters for next year. I don’t see Arnie as a leader, and I don’t like keepers as captains (a holdover from my hockey background). There gets to be a small group (Antonio, Snodgrass, Cresswell, Rice) of whom only one I see continually on the starting 11: Declan Rice.

This is the year that we see a transition: Noble hands off the leadership of the club on the pitch to Declan. Mark remains “club captain” as we need him to be that in the clubhouse and on the training pitch, but the armband on the weekends starts to show up on Declan. It is his time, and soon, it will be his club to lead out onto the grass every weekend. The only question is how long until he does the same for England