Noble urges West Ham to buy in January

West Ham captain Mark Noble says the club need to bring in "two or three bodies" during this January's transfer window.

The Hammers eased their relegation worries in December with successive wins against Hull City, Burnley and Swansea, but their form has slipped since then, with defeats to Leicester and Manchester United in the Premier League, and a chastening 5-0 FA Cup home defeat to Manchester City on Friday.

The club has been linked with moves for Sunderland's Jermain Defoe, Brentford's Scott Hogan and Celtic star man Moussa Dembele after a disastrous summer transfer window, which saw 10 players mostly signed on cheap or free transfers or on loan deals, and few if any making any positive impact on the pitch.

West Ham have reportedly had a second bid for Hogan rejected on Sunday morning.

The Championship club want £15m for the 24-year-old, who has scored 14 goals in 26 appearances this season.

"We need two or three bodies to come in to help the squad out and give a bit more competition," Noble said.

"There's no point playing well and losing games in this League. Especially nowadays with so much money involved and so much pressure.

"All that matters at the end of the day is three points. To be honest at this stage I'd rather lose in the Cup than the League. Now we have got two big games coming up when we must get points."

Noble admits the Hammers' recent poor performances have put manager Slaven Bilic under pressure.

"Every manager is under pressure now in every game," he said.

"If you don't win two or three you're under pressure. That's the nature of the game.

"I heard an interview Alan Pardew did before he was sacked and he said that with social media and the like it does not take long to get a manager sacked. Then it happened to him; it's just the nature of the game we're in right now," he added.

"We all need to dig in and fight to win games because the top six are pulling away and it's hard to keep up with them."

Photo (Getty Images/ Dan Mullan)

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