Mark Noble believes West Ham have enough strength in depth to cope with Andy Carroll‘s continued stint on the sidelines through injury.
Carroll’s latest foot injury has prevented him from making his long-awaited return to first-team action against Southampton today, and the club are still unaware of when they can expect him to return.
But Noble insists the side can cope without the Hammers’ record-signing, despite admitting it is a big blow not to have him back fit after so long out.
He told whufc.com: “Obviously he wants to get back playing but you feel for him because he’s missed a whole pre-season, missed the tour and missed the banter around the lads whilst he’s stuck in the physio’s room.
“To have him come back out smiling and then getting injured again is tough but that’s football and you never know what’s around the corner. He’s going to have to pick himself up and get back fit because we need him.
“We’ve got a big enough squad to cope with it, we might need to wrap Modibo Maiga in cotton wool at the moment and we’ve just signed Mladen Petric so hopefully he can come in and help us.”
Meanwhile, Noble is desperate for the side to make amends at St. Mary’s today after their disappointing 1-0 home loss to Stoke City two weeks ago.
“I can’t remember the last time we played that badly to be honest and I don’t think I’ll be the first one to say that,” he added.
“When you’ve got an international break straight after you can’t get back out on the pitch and fix it. we’ve got Southampton on Sunday who are a good side with loads of good players, spent loads of money.
“It’s live on Sky so it’s a great chance for us to put things right.”
