- Mark Noble makes first 90 minute performance of pre-season against Rubin Kazan on Wednesday
- Noble part of Hammers squad preparing for UEFA Europa League qualification
- Pre-season camp continues with friendly against Karlsruher SC on Saturday
The Hammers are currently on an intensive training camp in Austria, where they have played games against FC Slovacko of the Czech Republic and Russian side Rubin Kazan.
A third friendly follows on Saturday against Karlsruher SC, and added to a programme of daily double training sessions, the West Ham skipper is feeling stronger with each day.
New signings Havard Nordtveit, Sofiane Feghouli and Gokhan Tore are all bedding in with the squad, while the Club’s contingent of international players are all making their way back too.
Noble feels Slaven Bilic’s men are in good shape to push on and are ready to show it in that European tie against either Domzale or Shakhtyor Soligorsk.
He said: “It’s been a really good camp. The training has been great in perfect weather, and we’ve had a couple of tough games too. The lads are getting their fitness back after a good holiday and a tough last season, and it’s going well.
“The games we’ve played against Slovacko and Rubin Kazan have been great for us because we’ve got as many minutes as possible under our belts. Obviously the results haven’t gone for us but we don’t worry about that at this stage. We worry about players coming off the pitch fit, healthy and ready to train for the next few days.
“This is what pre-season’s all about, the Gaffer trying new things, new players coming in and trying to blend as a squad together. It’s been great. We trained on Thursday morning and then had an afternoon off, which was nice, then we go back at it with two sessions tomorrow.
“It’s the grind of pre-season that builds team spirit. It’s out on the training pitch that you really put in the hard work and you drag each other through. You try and enjoy the hard sessions and we’ve got another game Saturday now before the Europa League game and we need to get into top form for that.”
Noble is excited for the season ahead, with his teammates ready to build on a momentous 2015/16 campaign with many exciting challenges ahead.
He continued: “We’re slowly getting our players back. We’ll have Ginge and Angelo coming back soon, then Dimi who lasted a bit longer than the others!
“We’ve got a good squad, a really exciting squad and hopefully another couple of players coming in. We’ll go from there and we’re really looking forward to the Europa League.
“We’ve made three really good new signings in Havard, Gokhan and Sofiane to bolster the squad and with cup games, European games it’s going to be tough this year [so you need a bigger squad].
“There’s the new Stadium and teams coming to enjoy the occasion, who will get that little bit more up for it and we need to be able to cope with that.”
“It’s the grind of pre-season that builds team spirit. It’s out on the training pitch that you really put in the hard work and you drag each other through. You try and enjoy the hard sessions and we’ve got another game Saturday now before the Europa League game and we need to get into top form for that.”
Noble is excited for the season ahead, with his teammates ready to build on a momentous 2015/16 campaign with many exciting challenges ahead.
He continued: “We’re slowly getting our players back. We’ll have Ginge and Angelo coming back soon, then Dimi who lasted a bit longer than the others!
“We’ve got a good squad, a really exciting squad and hopefully another couple of players coming in. We’ll go from there and we’re really looking forward to the Europa League.
“We’ve made three really good new signings in Havard, Gokhan and Sofiane to bolster the squad and with cup games, European games it’s going to be tough this year [so you need a bigger squad].
“There’s the new Stadium and teams coming to enjoy the occasion, who will get that little bit more up for it and we need to be able to cope with that.”