London: The England manager may have compared him to Grant Holt but for Slaven Bilic the merits of Mark Noble are all too obvious.
“There are no midfielders who are having a better season than he is - constantly from the first game at Arsenal. He’s unbelievable,” purred the West Ham United manager after his captain’s emphatic volley 11 minutes from time sealed a professional victory over West Bromwich Albion.
“I was an international coach for six years and the national team is not about the 23 best players in one country. It’s also a team, especially in the big tournaments where they are together for six weeks. It needs atmosphere and everything - stars and lesser stars and all that. Is he a top-quality player? Of course. Not only because he scored a couple of goals. It’s every day, every game, every training session. He is top class. Mark is a great person also. He’s playing great. He could help England.”
Bilic could have a point. Roy Hodgson’s reluctance to pick a midfielder who has now scored four goals in his last two games as West Ham have revived their push for a place in Europe next season is probably more down to loyalty to others than anything else. Yet as his club ensured they remain in touch with both Manchester clubs after a clinical away victory sparked by Cheikhou Kouyate’s header, Noble showed signs he could make the transition with ease.
“I’m just enjoying my football,” he acknowledged. “It’s really gone well this season and I am playing a bit further forward. We’ve got some really big clubs around challenging for the same thing so we’ve got to keep winning games. We have Swansea at home and then United which is going to be an emotional occasion, followed by Stoke away to end it.”
Noble added: “We are setting standards every day and working hard for each other. We have a good bunch of players and good staff who keep us all on our toes. That’s what you need.”
Bilic, who could be seen blowing Noble a kiss from the dugout after his second goal from Andy Carroll’s cross, admitted he is delighted West Ham have now achieved their best Premier League points’ total - wherever they end up finishing. “It’s not bad. It’s good,” he said. “I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t mean anything - of course it does. It’s proof that the boys are doing a good job and long may it continue.”
Following West Brom’s heroics against Tottenham last week their supporters were left frustrated as the home side failed to take their chances in the first half and were made to pay. The teenage forward Jonathan Leko was at the heart of their best moments on his full debut and he said Tony Pulls had chosen an unlikely place to inform him that he was in the team.
“I was in the toilet and the gaffer called me out and said: ‘You’re starting,’ and I was like: ‘What?’” the 17-year-old said. “I was ready to go and was ready to start. I didn’t like to think about pressure, I was concentrating on the game and ready to go. I liked it, It was a bit of a surprise.”
Leko is the first player born in 1999 to play in the Premier League and he said he was grateful for the chance to set that particular record. “It’s a good stat, hopefully I can kick on. It was a good experience for me.”
An underwhelming season at The Hawthorns has prompted the West Brom chairman, Jeremy Peace, to appoint Nicky Hammond as the club’s new technical director. Given his previous reluctance to share his managerial duties Pulis may have considered this is as a slight, but he insisted that he has no qualms resuming a similar relationship to that he once shared with John Rudge.
“I worked with a technical director or director of football at Stoke for 10 years,” he said. “Nicky is a lot younger than Rudgy and I am hoping he will be a lot more free with his money so he can buy me a drink now and then, unlike what Rudgy did.”
