Fans of West Ham United have been criticising club captain Mark Noble on Twitter, in relation to the 32-year-old’s performance in the Hammers’ 1-0 loss to Arsenal last weekend.
Noble, who is an academy product of West Ham, has made 26 Premier League appearances so far this season, scoring four goals and providing one assist.
The central midfielder has averaged a WhoScored match rating of 6.63 this term, however, in his most recent appearance, during West Ham’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal last weekend, Noble turned in a below-par performance, with a match rating of 6.41.
In fact, the 2019/20 season has so far seen the £5.4million-rated midfielder achieve the second-lowest average match rating of his career, with only his 6.58 in the 2016/17 season ranking lower than his rating this year.
In reaction to Noble’s performance against Arsenal, fans of West Ham have taken to Twitter, with many suggesting that their captain should be dropped, while others stated their belief that the 32-year-old’s substitution in the 80th minute was far too late.
He gave it away so much today and too slow to track
— WestHamFanTone (@WestHamFanTone) March 7, 2020
Great shift? The guy is a West Ham legend but don’t be naive
— Cody Harrison (@codyjharrison9) March 7, 2020
Noble was poor again dropped please
— paul smith (@pauleast84) March 7, 2020
Great shift? If he was from Kosovo not Canning Town he would have been binned years ago
— roger (@rogerc32) March 7, 2020
Worst player today
— John Smith (@JohnSmi41737878) March 7, 2020
He shouldn’t of come out for the 2nd half
— FPL WESTHAM (@HottiSukky) March 7, 2020
He was the worst player on the pitch again
— Juho?? (@AlmostaTrueFan) March 7, 2020
What do we think?
With West Ham signing Tomas Soucek on loan in January, with the view to making the deal a permanent one in the summer, it would appear that this could be the beginning of the end for Mark Noble in the West Ham first-team.
Even though he remains a firm fan favourite, they appear to feel that Noble’s increasingly consistent poor performances do not warrant a starting place for a Premier League side, especially one that is in danger of relegation.