Opinions of our not so charismatic captain Kevin Nolan have been some what divided of late.
Regular users of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook will know that West Ham fans are not exactly shy in letting their feelings known when it comes to ‘their’ club.
Most fans, and I include myself in there, were happy, excited or maybe even just relieved to have signed someone of Kevins’ stature, skill, talent & leadership back in June 2011 – plus his apparent willingness to score and create goals any Premier league midfielder would be proud of. And the approximate fee of £4million seemed a steal at the time.
His record at Bolton Wanderers was 296 games with a return of 40 goals, and that started to get him noticed, but that’s still only a goal every 7.4 games.
But a certain Sam Allardyce seemed very happy with his contribution. After his move to Newcastle, his record changed to an impressive 29 goals in 85 appearances, which works out at a goal every 2.9 games. Very impressive for a midfielder, including 17 goals in Newcastle’s Championship campaign in 2009/2010, but I could go on about facts & figures all day.
What I, and most fans of our club, are interested in is the here and now. Why is he suffering a dip in form? Why do some fans feel he is picked on status rather than merit?
There is no doubting his talent but, when a player goes through a dip in form, should they be dropped regardless of if they are club captain or not? Sir Alex wasn’t afraid to drop Rooney or Roy Keane when they were not playing well. Joe Hart from Man City has been dropped due to poor form recently, so why can’t Nolan be dropped?
There are times during a long Premiership season when injuries & suspensions mean you are un-able to field some of your first choice eleven. If we were short of central midfielders I can see the argument for playing Nolan every week but, when we have a reasonably fit squad and Nolan isn’t contributing as much as he should do, or once did, should he be replaced by a player in his position who is in form or has been ripping up trees in training?
No doubt we have some talented midfielders at the club, most noticeably young Ravel Morrison, or Mark Noble – although he prefers to sit back. Jack Collison or Joe Cole can play there, Ricardo Vaz Te can play there, or even give some of our promising youth players a chance such as the impressive George Moncur.
You can’t fault Nolan’s leadership skills but does he take it too far with needless red and yellow cards?
During his three match suspension, the team seemed to cope rather well without him and didn’t appear to miss him. The results show we can survive without him.
A gutsy draw against Sunderland and a great win away to Spurs to reach the last four of the Capital One Cup were great results considering our recent run of form. The match against Premier league champions Manchester United proved one hurdle too many for a tired squad. The home loss to Arsenal was one to be forgotten but at least he managed to get on the score sheet in the game against West Brom.
So as fans we have to weigh up the good points and not so good points about captain Kev. He certainly has passion and he is a natural leader and chips in with the odd goal, although not as many as one would hope. On the down side he has lost half a yard of pace over the last year or so but he is still only 31, so should have a few more years of playing in him yet.
His lack of pace leaves him making late, lunging tackles which more often than not, result in a booking or dismissal. He seems lethargic after thirty minutes and some fans have been booing him because, from the outside looking in, it looks like he’s not trying hard enough.
There are many players that could be bought or loaned in but I think we already a natural replacement as club captain in Mark Noble. Any one who saw him crying after a defeat during the ‘Great escape’ year, knows he will give blood for this wonderful club and go that extra mile to try and get a positive result for West Ham United Football Club.
Mohamed Diame, Winston Reid or even Andy Carroll would make good captains but, as long as Nolan is still at our club, whether we like him or not, we should back him and the players, get behind the team, be the twelfth player and follow our club into what will hopefully be, a successful period as we prepare to move into the Olympic stadium.
