Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
As West Ham fans wisely stayed away from their soulless stadium on Monday night, protesting the owners’ lack of investment in what could be the worst squad in the Premier League, certainly in the worst of the three, we wondered what the saddest set of fans thought of this mess of club legend Mark Noble.
One of his favorite sons, a club man who has made more Premier League appearances (414) than any other player for the Hammers, captaining the team in most of them, was appointed sporting director in September 2022 after retiring at the end of last season.
They finished seventh this campaign and sixth the season before that, and while a 14th-place finish in 2022/2023 was preceded by their Conference League success, ninth and then 14th again. This The season, in which they will need a dramatic boost if they are to avoid the drop, has enough of a slump for Noble to oversee.
Neither the players on the pitch for this latest six defeats in eight games signed by Noble, nor the departure by Nuno Espirito Santo, put the Hammers in a good light.
Read more: Premier League winners and losers: Amorim, Slott, Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal and more
Brentford had a truly extraordinary 15 shots from inside the West Ham box before half-time. Igor Thiago scored, hit the bar and had actually made it four goals before the break, with Nuno making no apparent difference to the humor the Hammers were trying to defend with crosses, long throws, or whatever.
Mads Hermansson, who signed for $18 million from Leicester in the summer, is now watching Alphonse Areola put in one of the most inconsistent performances we’ve seen from him for at least the last two seasons.
Max Kilman might just be the luckiest Premier League stalwart in history, thanks to completely incompetent substitutes to pick out Nuno. Noble signed for $40 million after buying Konstantinos Meuropanos for $17 million, with Greece international speculated So Too bad he saw Jean-Clair Todibo (?!) off the bench in the first half of that game.
We can only imagine the degree to which Noble was cursing his negotiating skills in the summer of 2024 when Todibo’s loan deal from Nice was made permanent at the end of last season at West Ham. Thirty-five million bleeding pounds. Jesus Christ
The ease with which a straight ball separated Cullman and Todibo to score.
And it’s not as if Thiago was bullying Todibo, as that would suggest there’s any kind of battle for the striker to win. The centre-back was, and is, far less than what a Premier League centre-back needs, and neither Maiorpanos nor Cullman can claim a huge improvement in a guy who represents one of the worst pieces of transfer business in top-flight history.
Lucas Paqueta is one of what we suggest are just two of the undoubted good pointers in Noble’s $550 million transfer spend with his hands on Taylor in seven transfer windows. He played some neat passes, but nothing like the support he needs to be the creative threat he clearly can be. There is another plus point for Noble Currently drawing trees for Tottenham.
Read more: Premier League prize money table revealed with three teams including Liverpool
38 million summer signing Matisse Fernandes was subbed off at half-time after 45 minutes of fouling in possession. Callum Wilson never made it off the bench despite needing an equaliser. Brazilian teenager Luis Guilherme, who arrived to great acclaim in the summer of 2024, also did not make the squad and has featured in a massive 198 minutes in all competitions since joining the club.
West Ham were clearly chasing the game in the second half, but it wasn’t really clear, and if you’re resting your hopes on Crescencio Summervale to drag you into things, that’s a real problem with the usually awful end product £25m apparently buys you.
We do not intend to muddy the waters regarding the frustrations of West Ham fans. There are owners But Noble should certainly take his share of the blame for what these pessimistic Hammers are currently seeing.
He’s got a lot of credit in the bank, but based entirely on his playing days, and so far the credit can carry him into a job he’s shown so far he doesn’t have what it takes to succeed. His contribution as sporting director has been the worst among his counterparts in the top flight and there is a big reason for that.
