Mark Noble column: West Ham players need to demand more from each other if we are to go to the next level

EXCLUSIVE COLUMN
Step up | We must be tougher on each other to reach the next level at West Ham
West Ham United via Getty Images
Mark Noble31 August 2018

I’ve had a back problem which has kept me out for 10 days but I went with the squad to watch us play Arsenal. Afterwards I said to a few of the boys that we need to be harder on ourselves.

No matter how badly Arsenal play, they are always going to create chances at home with the players they have. We had three or four really good chances in the first half and didn’t take them. If we want to go to the next level, we must make the most of our opportunities and demand more of each other.

I don’t want us to play ‘basketball’ football, where we have a chance and then they have one — we took the lead against Bournemouth and Arsenal and lost both games — but we need to improve drastically because we’re conceding too many goals.

My back problems really go back to the season before last, when I had stomach surgery. I had played for three months in pain and then the surgeon told me that I needed an operation. It was only supposed be an hour long but it ended up lasting six hours. He found I had six hernias and my abdominal muscles had split.

When you’ve had surgery like that, it can change the way you move and that has caused the back pain. Last season, because of our situation, there was no chance I could have a rest and let it settle down, so I kept playing.

This summer, I thought it would heal, but I was still feeling it, so after the Bournemouth game it was decided a scan was necessary to make sure there was nothing serious happening.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, so I’ve been on a course of anti-inflammatories and had 10 days’ rest. Wednesday was my first day back training. It hasn’t been nice being out, but it was necessary.

I was going to travel to watch us play AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, but four hours in the car wouldn’t have been good for the back, so I watched it at home on TV.

That game was similar in that we conceded an early goal and then probably had 50 chances. It was attack versus defence and probably a good workout for the lads. We should have won the game 7-1.

We had a lot of talent on the pitch but, in the end, it was the two central defenders who scored. I saw Issa Diop, who scored a screamer for our first goal, in training the following day and said to him: “I didn’t know you had a twin brother. It can’t have been you who scored because I’ve never seen you hit one like that in training.”

Twins? Issa Diop scored a screamer in the win over WImbledon
West Ham United via Getty Images

I was buzzing for him because that will give him confidence but, above all, it was the victory which was so important: winning is everything.

I remember when Slaven Bilic was manager, we played poorly at Liverpool and drew 2-2. Then we were bad at home against both Hull and Burnley but won both games. Those seven points took us out of trouble.

That is Premier League football in a nutshell and I can remember in the dressing room after one of those games saying: “Lads, you have to appreciate every win, no matter how it comes.”

We play Wolves tomorrow. They took a great point from their game against Manchester City last weekend.

Tough test | Wolves picked up an unexpected point against the champions last weekend
AFP/Getty Images

In the main, clubs who were promoted used to be cautious in their spending, in the knowledge that they could be going straight back down.

Wolves and Fulham have spent big during the summer, though, and they will have noted that all three clubs who came up last season survived. They also have that adrenalin rush that goes with promotion and playing in the Premier League.

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