Mark Noble spent his entire career with West Ham, after a two-year spell with Arsenal as a young boy.
Those comments saw Nobes go up in the Arsenal fans’ estimations, but the Hammers fans weren’t quite so happy about his remarks.
So he clearly has a lot of sway at the club.
There aren’t many people out there who know the ins and outs of West Ham United football club better than Mark Noble.
Something he’s just said about the Hammers might not surprise the West Ham fans, but the Arsenal fans might just take affront to his comments.
Mark Noble makes West Ham admission that’ll stun Arsenal fans
Funnily enough, Noble actually joined Arsenal’s academy at the age of 11, before moving to West Ham two years later.
He went on to play for the Hammers right up until the end of the 2021/22 season, and then just six months later he became the club’s sporting director.
The 37-year-old really is Mr West Ham. He knows the club inside out, but his latest remarks may well raise some eyebrows over at the Emirates.
Noble was a guest on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, and was discussing Arsenal’s performance away at Manchester City on Sunday.
And the former Hammers skipper responded when asked what his thoughts are on the Gunners’ reliance from set-pieces.
He said, “Moysie was like that, though. Yeah, David was like that. At one point, our set plays were a massive part of our game, especially in Europe where you have like Dawson, Kurt, they were aggressive. Obviously Big Sam, I had Big Sam, who was massive on set plays. Loved it.”
Now, we all know that the Hammers were reliant on set plays under David Moyes and Sam Allardyce.
However, for those two mangers to be compared so closely to Mikel Arteta really is mind-boggling.
Moyes and Allardyce are poor man’s Artetas
Let’s get something straight first of all – Mikel Arteta is on another level to Moyes and Allardyce as a manager, certainly from tactical and man management perspectives.
The Spaniard has taken Arsenal from strength to strength over the past few years, and they are quite clearly now Manchester City’s main challengers for the Premier League title.
It’s worth noting as well – set-pieces are not the only strings to Arteta’s bow.
The Gunners are capable of playing a wonderfully attractive brand of possession-based football, as well as the high press system, as and when either of them are needed.
Arteta is incredibly flexible and has a superb talent of being able to make key tactical changes during games.
Moyes and Allardyce never were in Arteta’s league. Mark Noble surely knows that, but his comparison between West Ham’s set-plays and what Arsenal do from free-kicks and corners is a fair shout in all fairness to him.
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