Rio Ferdinand has praised Mark Noble for his handling of the Kurt Zouma incident after David Moyes revealed the captain held a squad meeting to thrash it out.
Zouma was controversially not suspended by West Ham after the video of his attack on his pet cat emerged on social media and Moyes faced widespread criticism for picking the central defender the day after the news broke.
Moyes has condemned Zouma for his actions but the manager defended his decision to select the player and has said the incident can bring his squad even closer in the face of adversity.
"Mark Noble does a brilliant job. He brought the players together. They all spoke about the situation. They had it out amongst themselves. He did the sort of thing an experienced captain would do, which is great for the manager," Moyes said.
"There's a lot of joined-up things at the football club. We might not always do the right things or get it right. But no matter what age we are, where we are, I have to keep learning. I had a new learning experience last week."
The manager told football.london that it was an individual decision from Noble to hold the meeting with no input from the Scot himself.
"Mark took it off his own back, took responsibility and showed great leadership," he said. "All football clubs need leadership, whether from the top, the manager, the captain. He took a lot of leadership and showed "I'm going to get this out in the open and out of the way". We're going to discuss it. See who's happy and who's not happy. Let's flush it out.
"Ultimately we've got a lot of games and the players need to work together. Mark showed what he is and what he has been – a really good captain."
Former Hammer Ferdinand was equally impressed with Noble's decision and praised the captain for his actions.
"You need to know where your squad are at and it’s good to find out who’s not happy," he told BT Sport. "'What are your concerns about it? Let’s keep the harmony in the squad.’ Don’t forget West Ham are in a position to get into Europe and the Champions League even.
"They need to be mindful without glossing over the issue. I think Mark Noble has done an admirable job in that."
Zouma has played twice since the incident and received a mixed reception from both West Ham supporters and opposition fans alike, however, despite the noise surrounding him the defender has put in solid performances.
Moyes believes that as abhorrent as Zouma's behaviour was his squad can use the incident to their advantage for the remainder of the season.
"The point is pulling players together. Sometimes you need a bit of adversity to drive you on," Moyes added. "Now we need to make sure we use all the things to our advantage the best we can. It was our own doing so we're the ones who have to fix it ourselves, nobody [but] else."
