West Ham started their 2018/19 Premier League campaign with a disappointing 4-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, and some fans have taken to Twitter to destroy captain Mark Noble for a poor performance in midfield.
Last season’s Golden Boot winner Mohamed Salah opened the scoring from close range and Sadio Mane doubled the home side’s lead on the stroke of half-time with a tap-in, before the Senegalese and Daniel Sturridge extended that advantage in the second half.
Many fans took to Twitter after the game to slam Noble for his dire display in the middle of the park, with many of the impression that the 31-year-old is not good enough for the club anymore.
This is Futbol have rounded up some of the best tweets below:
Shocking the whole back four and Rice and Noble just dreadful yes it may be Liverpool but you have to do the basics right , no attempt to press the ball and yes we need a cdm
— Kevin Marks (@kevstermarks) August 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/MichailDiCanio/status/1028632000196956160
https://twitter.com/samlallen_/status/1028631929959137280
Noble. Genuinely awful.
— Alan Rzepa (@alanrzepa) August 12, 2018
Mark Noble the weakest link in that Midfield.
Very impressed with Anderson so far… Want to see more of him going forward
— ???? ??? ?????? (@_WestHamReport) August 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/Marko_Lanzini/status/1028632781511897088
https://twitter.com/Jvckist/status/1028632495577817088
https://twitter.com/JamieCOYl/status/1028634047692644352
OPINION
These West Ham fans are fuming at Noble for his display in midfield, and it is easy to see why. The veteran midfielder was nowhere to be seen for much of the game, with Liverpool’s midfield three running rings around him. The 31-year-old did not look fit either, with Noble blowing hard after about 20 minutes. While that is to be somewhat expected in the first game of the season, it does not bode well for the Hammers going forward. Playing Noble against the Reds was always going to be a risk for Manuel Pellegrini, with his lack of pace a real issue against such a slick side. That ended up being the case on Sunday as the Hammers failed to make an impression at all at Anfield, and it was about the worst start they could have imagined after such a brilliant summer window. Hopefully these fans will see some huge improvements for Bournemouth next weekend.