Noble - We got caught cold

Mark Noble has urged West Ham United fans not to get too downhearted following Saturday’s 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat by Leicester City.

Six days on from winning at Arsenal, the Hammers produced another encouraging and at times dominant display, but two first-half defensive lapses allowed the Foxes to snatch the three points.

After hitting the crossbar early on through Diafra Sakho, Leicester scored opportunist goals through Shinji Okazaki and Riyad Mahrez. Although Dimitri Payet pulled one back on the hour-mark, West Ham could not find a way past Kasper Schmeichel a second time and were ultimately left with nothing to show for their considerable efforts.

To add to the frustration of losing, the Hammers saw Adrian sent-off late on for a dangerous challenge on Jamie Vardy, while Schmeichel earlier escaped punishment after appearing to impede a goal-bound Sakho just before half-time.

“For sure we could have won the game,” said Noble, whose side enjoyed 70 per cent of possession at the Boleyn Ground. “We controlled the game and had a couple of chances early on and hit the crossbar. If that goes in, it’s a different story.

“There are a lot of positives to take. I know we lost the game, but we played very well in the second half and should definitely have come away with a draw.

“I didn’t see the Schmeichel incident too clearly and it’s a tough one for the ref, but it was disappointing to get booed off at half-time, I must say. We came away from a massive win at Arsenal and obviously everyone came along and thought we would batter Leicester, but that’s not the way in this league.

“We got caught cold by a couple of goals, but we fought back hard in the second half and we definitely should have come away with a draw.”
We controlled the game from start to finish and got caught cold by a couple of goals, but it could have been whole different story on another day
While victory over Arsenal does not mean West Ham will win the league title, defeat by Leicester does not mean the Hammers will be relegated.

Noble pointed out that West Ham’s general play was good, but that two poor passages of play and two goals in nine first-half minutes meant their performance will be forgotten by those outside the dressing room.

“A lot of chances were created and we played a lot of good stuff, but we lost the game so no-one is going to care about how we played but, to us, it matters,” he concluded.

“We controlled the game from start to finish and got caught cold by a couple of goals, but it could have been whole different story on another day.”