If you follow this link this article tries to compare Huddlestone and the england midfielders stats to see if Huddlestone deserves a call up. http://squawka.com/news/2013/10/01/huddlestone-for-england/2013100123383?
When wanting to sign young talent or fringe players on the international how good will it look when we can turn around and say well we got Hiddlestone in the England team so why not join us for regular football could happen to you too. That's why I would like him to play for England.
The best thing about that article is its a genuine comparison between us, one of our players and those of the 4 biggest clubs in England. I don't think that could ever have been done seriously before. The problem with comparing stats in that way, and the article alludes to it, is that top clubs enjoy more posession and domination allowing their players more time on the ball to achieve higher stats in things like total passes, pass completion % etc. But even without comparing those stats I think it's easily agreeable that the 4 he's compared to are definitely ahead of him at present, but Gerrard, Lampard and Carrick are getting on and soon it will be time for the likes of Huddlestone to step up. Which, barring disastrous injury problems, I'm sure Thudd will do whether he's still with us or not. Big boots to fill though.
The thing that must be borne in mind, particularly with reference to Carrick, is what the passes achieve. If you stand in front of the back 4 and pass sideways, you will get great pass stats. David Batty was excellent at it, but Batty never really passed the ball forward in his career.
I'm a bit surprised the Look North are leading the sports bulletins with the 'slim chance' of Huddlestone being called up.
How times change. He's not good enough to play for Hull City any more. What's changed? He was playing the same holding role then, playing simple passes, often sideways and backwards. It was great 2 years ago, now he shouldn't be in the squad according to some.
Interesting quote. I was just thinking watching MOTD how Leicester developed Vardy and Mahrez into great players and how everyone seems to go backwards with us. Even the likes of Sago was impressing people on here at first. Another example is Brady who was good for us but looks bloody brilliant as soon as he left us.
he progressed the play at that time.moving up and making himself available and once again progressing.livermore was more of an ashby type then.now hudd just lays the ball sideways and stays put.and last few games livermore has done exactly the same
I think he's playing the same game as he always did. He's a great passer of the ball, probably the best in the squad. If players are in space he will give them the ball. If they are all marked up and has no options he will play it backwards to keep possession. He's always available to receive the ball, I don't know what some of you want him to do?
I honestly think it's Bruce. You don't go from being really good to being really **** like that, this isn't Space Jam. There's obviously something about the way we play that doesn't suit him and when he's out the side now we do far better. That shouldn't be the case when you're a former England and Premier League player. We see a hell of a lot of players under Brucey come in, start really well and then fade into the background. A lot of our strikers under him have done it and it's really annoying. It's either something he's doing in training or it's his tactics on the pitch. Not just the formation, but the individual instructions the players recieve. Similarly, Livermore's honeymoon period seems to be over, he's slumped as well. Nothing to do with Tom being next to him, he just looks lazy and his passing is pretty sloppy. A little bit like Koren, he suddenly arrives when it suits him. I'm sure he'll shake it off, Jake's a natural athlete and a good footballer, but he needs to buck his ideas up; endearing come back from sadness related cocaine use isn't enough for us to continue saying he's doing his best.
I think a lot of it comes from the fact that he's Tom Huddlestone, who was in the Spurs and England team. So they expect to see a player that's totally amazing every week. He can't make mistakes, he can't misplace a pass and he better not have a bad game. He does a lot of things right, but the forward brigade will tell you otherwise.
Do something that helps us in attack. Constantly dropping behind the defence to receive it is useless.
If he's having to drop behind the defence to collect the ball that says more about our defenders ability to play out than it does about Tom.
I think he is guilty of moving into safe positions to receive the ball, he tries to give his team mates an easy option. I think the team often look to give it to Tom and wait for him to create something. They need to give him options too though. Unfortunately most of the time there aren't any.
