Sky Sports expert Jamie Redknapp analyses West Ham United's 2013/14 season, including picking his star man, and we have also teamed up with Opta to assess the strengths and weaknesses in attack and defence
Friday 16 May 2014 12:35, UK
"If they had Carroll they might have finished higher but West Ham finished where I expected them to finish. That is where they are; they are not a relegation team and they are not getting into the top 10. It has been a reasonable season for them."
Jamie says: "The West Ham midfielder is as honest as they come"
The combative midfielder battled his way to an average of 2.9 tackles per game, placing him just outside the league’s top-20 tacklers. Noble also helped out his forward line by making an average of 52 passes per match – more than Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and Manchester City’s Fernandinho.
In a campaign with little to shout about, West Ham United recorded a first ever hat-trick of wins over Spurs in one season. Early glimpses of Ravel Morrison’s potential also helped to lift a mundane start to the season, although Allardyce has struggled to tame the young starlet.
With a run of poor results and the team plummeting down the table, West Ham fans underwent the lowest ebb of the season, succumbing to Fulham 2-1 and then the embarrassment of losing 5-0 to Nottingham Forest in the FA cup, and 9-0 on aggregate to Man City in the semi-finals of the League Cup. It was only four successive victories in February against fellow Premier League strugglers that effectively saved the club from relegation.