After a dismal performance in Saturdays FA Cup match, Mr. West Ham himself stepped up and laid down the harsh truth that is surrounding the club at the moment.
For Mark Noble, West Ham isn’t just a football club, it’s a way of life for him and the only club he has known his entire career. Nobes will be turning 33 in a few months and regardless of how much longer he wants to play, his time as the clubs skipper is slowly coming to an end.
He has never been one to mince his words or try to sugar coat anything when it comes to the club and after the loss to West Brom and another swift exit from the FA Cup, he had a few things to say about the state of the club, where things need to go, and how his mates should respond.
In an interview after the match with talkSPORT Mark Noble told them “today was not good enough for the standard that we should be at.” With an emphasis on the “we”, it would seem that the skipper is not only calling himself out after that horrific miss but the rest of the squad as well.
The Hammers have now lost 3 out of the last 4 matches in all competitions and are just barely dangling above the relegation zone. New manager David Moyes has been brought into a rough situation but Noble doesn’t want the blame to be on him stating:
"“Listen I’ve just said to the players in there that we’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror, it’s no one else’s fault. We’ve got to say to ourselves did I work hard enough today? Was I good enough? And the answer for me was no.”"
The issues surrounding West Ham travel well beyond just the player’s ineptitude but the boards as well. However, they don’t intertwine with each other meaning that if the squad can get back in form and win a few games at least that side of the club can bounce back.
With both sides of the club being down Noble went on in the interview explaining his fears as well for the unknown and the future of the club if things keep going down this road. With the squad that the Hammers have, there should be no way that they rely on the 32-year-old as they have but that’s the case once again.
The club has a rough run ahead of them with Liverpool twice, Brighton, and Manchester City over the next 3 weeks leaving the concern still there and the question of can they even get a point? But all in all, the fact that Noble is behind it and pushing the club usually means a change… so we wait and see if anything changes and until then, COME ON YOU IRONS!