Over the last two season the first name I look for when the England squad is announced ahead of international fixtures is Mark Noble.
I feel that he’s one of the most underrated midfielders in the Premier League and an England call up is well over due. I’ve always argued that had he been playing for a bigger Premier League club he’d have had his call up years ago.
Noble’s performances this season in particular have been, arguably, the best of his career so far. He appears to be thriving in Sam Allardyce’s new 4-6-0 formation, and that showed in his Man of the Match performance against Manchester City last weekend.
And today Noble admitted that he believes he is good enough to earn a place in England’s World Cup squad for next summer’s tournament in Brazil, while co-chairman echoed those thoughts with claims that he would be disappointed if Noble isn’t at least called up for November’s friendlies with Chile, Germany and Denmark.
But what do the fans think? Obviously supporters of other clubs think it’s all a big joke, with a basic search on Twitter revealing scores of tweets saying “hahahahahaha” and “LOL.” But Hammers fans can see Noble’s point.
Here are some of the comments made by both West Ham and neutral fans on Twitter both before Noble’s comments and after…
[tweet https://twitter.com/janhopis/status/391615285850943488]
[tweet https://twitter.com/SW54321/status/391616978764726272]
[tweet https://twitter.com/DannyMurphs/status/391624847115452416]
[tweet https://twitter.com/JakeRowe1/status/391690734421938176]
[tweet https://twitter.com/Sidd3rz92/status/391633882980057089]
[tweet https://twitter.com/Troddy22/status/391633901149360128]
[tweet https://twitter.com/LeeSalter/status/391613230587863040]
[tweet https://twitter.com/abarber485/status/393409897091833856]
[tweet https://twitter.com/Ollinho22/status/393390502860845056]
[tweet https://twitter.com/TheAngusJellis/status/393410505596870656]
[tweet https://twitter.com/adiesmith64/status/393413940849692672]
[tweet https://twitter.com/Sibbo_ITF/status/393417482222182400]
What do you think? Is Noble worthy of an England call up? Is he always being overlooked because he doesn’t play for a bigger team? Or is he plainly not good enough to make the step up to international level? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.