looks liek he's taken over form the manager doing it, pretty damning about last seasons preperation -
Evening Standard
Mark Noble: West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini has been class - it’s the little things that make a big difference
Read the West Ham captain's brilliant new column every Friday
Mark Noble
When I was on holiday in June, just before I looked at the fixtures on the day they were released, I thought the two teams we didn’t want for the first game were probably Manchester City or Liverpool away. What did we get? A trip to Anfield.
They might have spent £175million on new players but we’ve also spent big this summer, too, and we have to try and go there and win because, if we set up for a draw, we’re probably going to get beaten.
We’re in good shape going into the season. The new manager, Manuel Pellegrini, is really calm. He doesn’t shout or holler but he knows what he wants and he gets it across in a different way.
The pre-season organisation this summer has been different class, so much better than last year.
I’m not going to blame anyone individually, that’s not my style, but the pre-season last year was nowhere good enough for a Premier League club.
The games we played, where we were based, were sub-standard. We looked around at other clubs playing top opposition, yet we were playing fourth-league teams from Germany. In one game the goals didn’t even line up correctly.
You couldn’t help thinking, this is no way to prepare for a Premier League season, and I think it showed.
This year, though, everything has been fantastic: hotels, training grounds, facilities. Everything has been done properly and for the past few seasons, since I was made captain, I have consistently said that the little things matter.
It’s hard for me because being a one-club player, I’ve not witnessed how different people work, but it is the small things that matter.
If you’re going to spend £30m plus on players, then details do matter in how they’re treated, where they’re staying, details such as, for example, whether there is wi-fi in the hotel so the new players can use Facetime — or something similar — to speak to their families back in their home country.
To the fans, that doesn’t sound important but believe me, the players appreciate those little things.
For me, pre-season is purely there to get myself fit. You don’t want to give too much away in the games because, with the scouting networks today, you can be sure there will be a couple of oppositions scouts there watching, analysing your set-plays, that sort of thing.
No matter how hard you work in pre-season, though, you can’t breathe in the first 20 minutes of that opening Premier League game — it’s a different kind of fitness and you can’t replicate that in pre-season.
David Moyes and his staff were fantastic at this club.
We were in a bit of a pickle when he came in last season but he and his staff got us out of it, which should be appreciated by every West Ham fan.
They had to turn things around in a short space of time and they did that — we finished 13th in the table, which was a real feat.
My aim this season is for a really strong top-10 finish and a way of playing which excites. I think we were developing that towards the end of last season and if we can add something, with the money we’ve spent, we can stick together and have a great season.
Jack’s a great signing and I just hope we get to play together a lot
I said to Jack Wilshere that I can’t believe he is only 26 because he seems to have been around for so long.
He’s such a fantastic footballer. He’s had his injuries but you can’t approach a game saying to yourself, ‘I’m not going to get injured today’. It doesn’t work like that. The way he plays, often leaving it to the last moment before moving the ball, means he almost invites the challenge.
He’s a fantastic signing. He’s a fan and he’s been great since he arrived. We get on really well and you can see he’s enjoying things. I just hope we can play a lot of games together this season.
We’ve signed a lot of players — very good players — this summer and so, naturally, the expectation level has risen. All I would say to the fans is, let the players settle in. The Premier League is a different beast.
I’ve talked to the boys who have come here from abroad, people like Angelo Ogbonna and Pedro Obiang, and they will say it is so different from what they’ve experienced before: the pace, the power.
They told me that in Italy, where they both played, they felt they could play three games straight off because physically it was less demanding. There’s no chance of that in the Premier League where, after a game, you can’t walk for two days!
New-boy Felipe keeps texting me with pictures of his dog
I’ve tried my hand at Google Translate with some of the new boys and they all have my number. If they have any problems, they can ring me at any time. Felipe Anderson, for example, has a similar breed of dog to mine and he keeps texting me pictures of it!
As team captain, I try to help the new players as much as I can. Sometimes it can take a while to settle in. Maybe you’re looking for a school for the kids, you’re trying to find somewhere to live and your partner is stressed.
They’re little things but part of my job — and that of the player-care staff at the club — is to make that transition is as smooth as possible.
