Noble move was simply naive, says Hammers boss Curbishley

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Noble was in Munich today undergoing the second part of a double hernia operation performed by Dr Ulrike Muschaweck, the same surgeon who treated both Michael Owen and Craig Bellamy.

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Playingthrough the pain: Noble against Coventry

"Unknown to us, Mark's had problems for a couple of months but he's a young boy and all he wants to do is play," said Curbishley. "Probably it was a bit of naivety and we'll put it down to experience."

Curbishley is hoping Noble could be back fit by the time West Ham meet Tottenham in two weeks time, while he is also optimistic that Dean Ashton and Freddie Ljungberg could be back in the squad to face Derby on Saturday.

The West Ham manager is also attempting to fix up a behind-closed-doors match in the next two weeks, to give both Ashton and Scott Parker some much-needed match practice.

"Scott will begin full training on Monday," said Curbishley. "It seems a long time ago now since he was injured. It happened to him and Julien Faubert in the same week of our pre-season tour.

"We have two weeks after tomorrow so we'll try and fix up a match in which he can play and the same goes for Dean Ashton."