HAMMER TIME

Skipper Noble lays into his under-performing stars after yet another below-par performance.. this time in the Cup

MARK NOBLE sat the West Ham players down after this abject FA Cup exit and accused them of not working hard enough.

Captain Noble himself missed a glorious injurytime chance to cancel out Conor Townsend’s early goal.

But a draw would have been ill-deserved after a tepid performance against a Championship side which made eight changes and played the last 17 minutes with 10 men after the sending off of Semi Ajayi for a second yellow card.

At 32, Noble was not even supposed to play after a run of hard games, but had to be brought on at half-time by David Moyes (below) to bring life to the side. So afterwards he was furious with teammates who had not fulfilled even the basics.

“I told the players after the game we have already changed managers so now

we have to look at ourselves,” said Noble.

“No one else. Did I give enough today? Did I work hard enough? Was I good enough?

“When you are a footballer you know whether you have done it or not and you look in the mirror when you go home and say, ‘Did I quite do it today?’ “And for 95 per cent of us, the answer is ‘No’. I told them the club have paid a lot of money for a lot of players.

“The people who brought those players in obviously see something in them. So they have got it. “But you could be technically the worst player in the world at this club, but if you chase someone down, tackle and get a throw-in in their half or win a corner, you will get 60,000 cheer you. It is what the fans want to see.

“It is not rocket science. That is West Ham. They want to see people work hard. If you do that, with quality you will win games.

“But today was not the level I expect – that West Ham expects.

“As a footballer and in any job if you are not working hard enough, you know. If you are not putting the hours in, the stuff in the gym, doing what you are supposed to. You know it.

“At some point it will catch up on you. As a Premier League player you are paid a lot of money to do the basics right.

“The fans want you to run around for the kit you wear and if they get that, you will be accepted. But today they will go home saying they did not get what they deserved.

“I see people on TV giving interviews where they try to paper over the cracks. But there is no point me lying about it.

Sometimes people want to hear honesty.

“It was not good enough for this football club.”

Noble’s message has to hit home quickly.

Liverpool visit the London Stadium on Wednesday with a relegation battle against Brighton just three days after.

“When you lose to a weakened championship team – let’s get that straight – it is not good enough,” he added.

“Now it is going to be tough. It is a relegation battle, for sure. We need to win five or six games to have a chance of being safe.

“But do I believe in the players we have? One hundred per cent. Because if I did not, I would not be doing my job properly.”

“You could be technically the worst player in the world at this club but if you chase someone down, tackle and get a throw-in in their half or win a corner, then you will get 60,000 cheer you. “It is not rocket science. That is West Ham.”

“When you lose to a weakened championship team – let’s get that straight - it is not good enough”

“I see people on TV giving interviews where they try to paper over the cracks. But there is no point me lying about it. Sometimes people want to hear honesty. It was not good enough for this football club.”