Mark Noble column: There will still be passion, but this derby will be so different

Mark Noble23 June 2020

If Saturday’s restart against Wolves was strange and ultimately disappointing, tonight’s London derby against Spurs is going to be surreal.

Derby matches are usually frenetic, passionate affairs and the atmosphere is electric. Personally, I’ve loved the West Ham v Spurs matches in which I’ve played down the years.

You feed off the reaction of the crowd, whether it’s to a tackle, a foul or a referee’s decision.

Tonight, at Spurs’s new stadium, there will still be tackles, fouls and decisions but no fans.

The first game back, against Wolves at the weekend, didn’t go our way. They are a good side and we knew they would have a lot of the ball, but I didn’t think there was a whole lot in the game until Adama Traore came on in the second half.

In Pictures | West Ham vs Wolves | 20/06/2020

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We knew dealing with his crosses would be vital, but we didn’t do it well enough and got punished. It wasn’t good enough.

We didn’t create too many clear chances, but if Pablo Fornals had scored from my pass over the top in the first half, I’m sure it would have been a different game.

We were missing some important players through injury, though, and we move on knowing we need some points on the board as quickly as possible, hopefully starting tonight.

I had tried to visualise what it would be like playing in a near-deserted stadium and prepared mentally as best I could, but the lack of atmosphere was still very strange, especially playing at home.

When you make a good pass, a good tackle or win a header, you invariably get a reaction from the fans, but on Saturday there was none of that.

We fully understand why we have got to get this season finished, but it’s going to be a strange six weeks.

When you’re inside the stadium, in the changing room, you are away from all the noise outside, but when you walk out you feel the atmosphere and it gives you that buzz.

Without that, we are going to have to really push ourselves mentally for that motivation — and we need to come to terms with that quickly.

There were times on Saturday when it felt a little like a pre-season friendly. I watched the Merseyside derby on Sunday night and it felt exactly the same.

In fact, I spoke to Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson after the game and he echoed my thoughts, that it was so strange without the fans in what is normally an electric atmosphere.

We have eight games to go, though, and we’ll fight to the end.

For tonight’s game, the preparation won’t be too different from normal. We’ll report to the London Stadium, work through some set-plays and then have a pre-match meal at a hotel nearby before driving to Tottenham’s stadium which, in itself, is going to be strange because, when you arrive, there will be practically no one there.

The more games you play, though, the more we’ll get used to the ‘new normal’ and we’re going to have to adapt quickly, because we need to start winning some games.

In Pictures | Tottenham vs Manchester United | 19/06/2020

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We also have to look at the bigger picture, which is that keeping everyone safe and well is the absolute priority at the moment — and that means no fans in the grounds.

We’ll need to be switched on from the start against Spurs tonight, but we’ll be missing one or two players again through injury. Robert Snodgrass, for example, has a back problem and we’re missing him badly, because we need people like him in our situation.

Not only does he give everything, but he also has a lot of quality — I’m just hoping he’ll be back before long. I do think, though, that every club will have their injury problems over the next six weeks because of the sheer number of games.

Personally, I don’t think the water breaks halfway through each half help the flow of the game, either. The players don’t really need them — we can have a decent break at half-time.

Finally, I just want to mention our former academy driver, Dennis Lepine, who passed away recently.

Dennis was a great servant for our club. He used to travel around the world to watch us play and his son, Billy, is an academy goalkeeping coach.

My thoughts are with his family at this sad time.

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