He doesn't aid the team with speed on the ball but his abillity to take a touch and then pick a pass adds pace to our game in itself. He did do a lot of good defensive work too which he perhaps wasn't credited enough for after he'd been tagged with the reputation of being slow and ponderous.
I think you've been watching him from about 3 years ago. The last two seasons he has been using his strength a lot more and whilst he's not going to be the defensive player in the midfield, like Sandro and Parker, he can and does break up a fair amount of attacks.
Huddlestone only shone with Modric, Notso? In the season that we finished 4th he played 33 league games and 43 games in all. Modric was mainly used on the left wing and took a long time to get back to form after having his leg broken in a challenge with Bowyer. Huddlestone spent most of the season being paired with Palacios or more rarely Jenas. Modric was only put in the middle with him towards the end of the season. The Croatian missed out on the 9-1 against Wigan, for example, where our four man midfield consisted of Kranjcar, Huddlestone, Palacios and an outstanding Lennon.
I agree that Huddlestone will struggle to hold down a place in the first XI, Notso. If we want to compete with the sides around us though, we need players of his quality in the squad.
Agreed. Up until now Huddlestone hasn't had any major competition for a place in the last 2 years roughly. Perhaps with the players we have now, when Hudd gets his chance he'll hopefully shine and show why he's still regarded as a quality centre midfielder. His passing range is un-rivalled in the squad and if he can develop other parts of his game there's no reason he can't eventually force his way back. I just hope he has a determined mentality and won't give up like Gomes seems to have done.
Our goal should be to have 20+ players of similar quality so that our first 11 is not obvious and we can select teams against a view of the opponents strengths and weaknesses. Hudd fits the bill for me
Fantastic point, to be able to pick an XI to exploit the weaknesses in the opposition would be a dream for any manager. Not that we're there just yet, but our strength in depth is showing that we can mix things up a bit to be able to cause different opposition different sorts of problems.
If he can add bite to his game he'd be our Alonso, he was getting there pre injuries and had vastly improved...frustrating.
Just our luck notso. Just like Lennon 2 1/2 seasons back. He was tearing full backs apart with ease and then he picked up injury and excluding the last two recent games, he hasn't looked anything like his old self.
Firstly I'd hate to see the Hudd playing against us, I'd be on edge the whole match. I couldn't handle it. He must stay. Secondly Hudds passing coupled with Adebayor's movement should open up even the tightest of defenses. Thirdly, as sure as eggs is eggs, we will suffer more injuries and he will be required. He is one of those players who can turn a game when everything else fails and he is still young, I firmly believe we've yet to see the best of Hudd, he needs to develope a bit of steel and then he could be world class, expect him to feature in the 2014 world cup.
