Young Tom Carroll bossed the Maribor game. Most of the players seemed to be (wisely) bypassing Huddlestone. As soon as he does get possession, the game slows dramatically. Yet Carroll is back on the bench. No wonder Super-Sandro always looks knackered,he's doing two blokes work. We've definitely taken a step backwards. Lost Modric,bought Dembele.Decent player but not in Luka's class. Let Rafa go,bought Dempsey.Same answer. Why can't Siggy or the aforementioned Tom Carroll get a go as the creative half with Sandro? Huddle stone just ain't good enough if we're going to progress. He's ridiculously slow,can't tackle without giving away a free kick,usually in a dangerous area. If he does bother to close someone down,by the time he gets there,they're long gone. Aguero could've crawled past him today for the equaliser if he'd wanted. Was Jenas really that bad that he was behind this plank? Always thought he must've seen Harry's books to keep getting a start. Perhaps he's got something on Levy. I can't believe he's straight in at the moment on effort or ability. Pops up with the odd wonder goal granted. Just a luxury player as Hod and Ginola were. But look what else they gave us. This lummox is holding us back. Aaaaand........relax!
I agree with the sentiment and commented on his sluggish performance in the match thread. Yeah he pings a ball well but so what since it doesn't happen often enough in an accurate manner. Plus he's always playing a role in conceding annoying lazy goals. However it's a team game and I'm not impressed with Dempsey's lacklustre performances either. He always looks knackered and a bit lost/confused. Vert needs a rest. He has played in all the cup and league games bar the odd one and today he looked knackered. But back to Hudd...he needs to lay off the treacle. Injuries are influencing selection and I will forever be optimistic until our first 11 starts start a game and on a regular basis begin to be outperformed.
Only played several games since the hair started growing. Bit tricky to score from treatment table (although if anyone could?). This season he's been playing very deep. The goal is coming though.
He's been just one of a number of players who's been underperforming. Add him to a list of Friedel, Walker, Gallas and Dempsey. Agree with Spurlock too, Verts looked very laboured yesterday and needs a rest.
Strange as it may seem...I know!, do you love Hudd or something? It was just an excuse to use the afro, lighten up.
This is very odd - I actually agreed with AVB trying to put him out on loan at the start, but I think he was kept to cover for injuries if we didn't get Moutinho. I don't think he has played well enough to be much ahead of Carroll in our team, never mind for England.
He's a good player when given time. Unfortunately, he's not going to get that in today's Premiership. He's just plain too slow.
Our defensive mindedness isn't suiting him. When we're attacking and he's not constantly under pressure, his lack of mobility and unwillingness to risk a challenge in and around the box are far less of a problem. When he can just sit back, ping the ball around and deal with any hopeful longballs that the opposition might hoof out from the back, then he's fine. I thought that the combination of him and Sandro could work very well for us and I still feel that it could come good, but we need to create fear in others, rather than falling prey to it ourselves. Villas-Boas needs to embrace the Spurs mentality, take some risks and go out to win games, trying to finish sides off and going for the jugular, rather than hanging on for dear life. We're not good at it, we've never been good at it and we'll never be good at it. It's not in the spirit of the club. 4-4-2 and let them worry about how to deal with our attacking ability. If others sides are willing to go toe to toe with us when we've adopted that mentality, then good luck to them. Our pace out wide and two dangerous strikers should be too much for most teams.
I agree with this, our current style is stifling him. He also relies on movement from the players in front of him to allow him to create the openings with his range of passing. Against Wigan in particular, he was forced to play short square passes all afternoon because Defoe as an example, stood still all game. Having said that, I have a feeling we might be saying in about a year or 18 months time that 'he was never the same player after his injury'.
I am not convinced Thudd's passing ability makes up for the way he slows our midfield down. I am beginning to think he is just not suited to Spurs especially without a Crouch type target to aim at.
that's a good point spurf. especially as the new way of playing isn't to ping a ball 60 yards... it sort of makes Thudd redundant, sadly.
Hudds biggest problem after a lack of mobility, is his inability to surge past players and carry the ball forward, and command the midfield. Top sides look for their creative MFers to 'run the game' I've never seen Hudd do this, and I sincerely don't think I ever will.
It seems as if AVB wants our players to play a system that so far, isn't suiting them. He needs to meet the players half way, get them to play near to the style he wants but also allowing them to play with the freedom they need to be at their best.
I agree with this, also. However, given the degree of inflexibility that AVB has displayed so far, I just don't see it happening. The way we've been playing, Huddlestone has been more of a liability than an asset.
I agree we've been too defensive. I had a hard time decided whether I wanted to see Hudd and Carroll for the Man City game. The big problem for me is that not playing Hudd sends him a very negative message. But in retrospect I would have taken my chances on Carroll. I think Hudd is fine against weaker/non-attacking teams. But against the top teams you need someone faster, meaning Carroll should get a chance.
