Mark Noble felt the Hammers’ performance against Everton on Saturday was a cause for encouragement – even if all three points eluded them.
On the back of a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Watford, Noble wanted a reaction from his team and that was certainly in evidence at the Boleyn Ground.
Manuel Lanzini’s beautifully-placed effort gave the home side a 30th minute lead, only for Romelu Lukaku to cancel it out just before the break.
1-1 was how it remained, but Noble saw far more positives than negatives.
He said: “We are a little bit disappointed, not because of the result as Everton are a top team, but at home I thought we played very well.
“It was a completely different performance to last week, which is encouraging. I think we probably should have scored a couple more goals, but in the end probably both teams were quite happy with a point.
“Last week wasn’t like us, I don’t know what happened there. Maybe it’s credit to Watford because they played well, I don’t know. It wasn’t us and we showed that on Saturday.”
Lanzini’s goal was his fourth of the season and Noble is impressed with the way the Argentine has settled in to life with the Hammers.
He continued: “Manuel is great. He’s learning English and he’s a lovely kid. He’s only 22 and he’s got a manager who believes in him and lets him go out and play.
“He’s a top player, and I YouTubed him before he came here and saw that he had a lot of quality. He’s showing that in the games.”
As the Londoners head into the third international break of the season, Noble is satisfied with the campaign to date, but knows his team cannot afford to rest on their laurels.
He added: “We had this kind of start last year, but then only won a couple of league games after Christmas. We want to keep this going, we’re got back to a good performance on Saturday and probably should have got the three points.”