I had Kevin De Bruyne in my pocket until Pep Guardiola proved his genius for Man City

Mark Noble has recalled the genius tactics that Pep Guardiola used to beat West Ham during his playing career, after thinking he had Kevin De Bruyne and his star-studded Manchester City teammates on lock-down!

Noble, now retired, needs no introduction for his Premier League career. The one-club man, who did spend time out on loan at Hull City and Ipswich Town as a youngster, called time as a player in 2022 - and he now works as a sporting director at the London Stadium.

Speaking about his playing career on the Rio Ferdinand presents podcast, Noble reminisced on one of the times he'd played against City and how much it stuck with him.

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"Me and Declan Rice played sort of wide as a midfield two because of David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne," he said when Ferdinand asked him about his mindset for one game. "I remember it was like 25 minutes in and Kevin was getting frustrated because he wasn't getting much of the ball.

"We was containing them, but we sort of camped in, and we was counter-attacking and we was doing alright. I remember standing there and the ball had gone out of play and Pep [Guardiola] shouted on to Kevin '10, drop 10'.

"[He meant to move] Deeper right, which gives me a decision. now I'm thinking; 'I can't really get there, because if I'm there I'm in no man's land because then they slap it into the striker. It completely changed the game.

"Ten yards in a game completely changed the outlook and I think we ended up losing 2-0, which isn't a bad result [considering it was] at their place."

Noble spent 22 years at West Ham before announcing his retirement in 2022. He became the player with the