Thudd

For a part of the season, injuries played a big hand in masking confusion that kept appearing in the tactics of Steve Bruce.
He played wing-backs in an attacking 3-5-2, not once did he, or anyone else refer to the tactic as 5-3-2; that came much later in a blog (which you quoted) that sought (in a good, well written way) to be more defined in explaining the style played.
I believe his (the bloggers) focus on the wing-backs ignored the relevance of all mid-fielders being committed to defensive duties - in fact, I believe that one of the issues we have is that 3-5-2 has caused Thudd (thread topic) to sit too deep in a more defensive position that does not suit him or the team, yet we still label him a mid-fielder, which is fair enough.
I think the fact the blogger talks about 5-3-2 yet illustrates it as 3-2-3-2 or 3-2-3-1-1 would only add to the confusion of Steve Bruce. Both Elmo and Rosie are capable of foraging forward from deep, but their natural instincts for this and their defensive qualities are very different.
I believe that the expectation of most spectators, supporters and professional punditry, looks at wing-backs with a primary responsibility to get forward (as an attacking mid-fielder) and. cause a threat on a regular basis.
Regardless of what dated thinking might try and dictate, I believe that our use of wing-backs is as mid-fielders, not defenders; which is why Thudd has dropped back to compensate - which is very relevant to thread and conversation.

 

Our best midfielder is Mo, Huddlestone doesn't even come close. Mo's injury has cost us this season. If we stay up and I believe we will, we need better than Huddlestone and Livermore to cement our position in the Prem. Replacing Aluko is a priority as well

 

I don't think we need to replace either Tom or Jake but the key thing for me is only play one at a time. We look better when Tom isn't in the team because Jake takes on the responsibility well, they are too alike and we lack movement and sit too deep with both of them but you will find Jake has his best games when he plays in Tom's position. It's the same with Meyler for me, we used to play Meyler Tom and Jake and when any one of them is missing we say we played better without them it's not because they are bad players as such but down to the type of player they are, it would be like playing 2 small similar strikers and wondering why we aren't scoring many headers.

 

In my opinion Huddlestone is easily the best midfielder at the club, but people don't appreciate what he does. I never understood why we bought him if we weren't gonna play a possession based game. He should be playing at somewhere like Swansea cos he'd be perfect there. I just think a lot of our fans aren't appreciative of his style which is to control the flow of the game through safe, and yes occasionally that means sideways, passes (Xavi used to take a lot of stick for the same thing before people started noticing how important he was to Barcelona).

 

You might have a point there. People get frustrated by Toms lack of penetrating passes or decisive shots. He's rarely involved in goals or even chances.

I said before that I don't understand what our style of play is actually supposed to be. We have no identity as a team. We're not long ball, we're not fast, we're not big and strong nor are we a passing side. If we played in a way that suits gifted technical midfielders maybe Huddlestone would be more effective. I'd love to see us play with a few more attacking players on the pitch.

 

He showed what he can do playing against Palace. He got forward, had shots, and created chances (one for N'Doye in the 2nd half was superbly done). I think the difference was that, for once, the defence wasn't sitting on the edge of our own box which allowed the whole midfield to get closer to the action going forward. Question is, why do we often sit so deep?

 

I think there are a couple of key factors that contribute to this deep-sitting defence, which drags in a deep sitting centre-midfield - especially Thudd.

The three centre-backs must be disciplined to operate as two central defenders with one moving forward or wide as the game dictates, who does what will depend on how an attack against them develops, roles changing as required - this is not as instinctive as playing a central two in 4-4-2 and must be drilled into players. I think this is a difficulty Dawson and Davis have struggled with. In essence they need to operate an a tight defensive trio who watch and cover for an equally flexible and responsive midfield five. Anyone of the midfield five have both attacking and defensive duties in general play, the defensive trio generally do not - set pieces being the exception and there should always be a balance to that to counter getting caught n the break. You really do have to be on top of your game to succeed at 3-5-2, especially the back three - not to mention having at least three of the midfield being capable of a 90 minute box-to-box performance.

The second factor, IMO, is our frequent lack of a player in midfield who can turn the ball up-field as a threatening move. We simply hug the middle ground and get pushed back; when that happens the natural tendency is to contract and defend - this robs your creative or threatening players of the space and options they need to shine.

Of course, the player's skills, fitness and temperament, combined with the tactics of the coach, will mean that how any of us look at will be subjective and open to a certain level of opinion - just as some players will not always see it the same as the coach.

As for Thudd, I think he is the type of player who needs to get into a game quickly and establish a rhythm and partnership or two - he did this against Place and then he was a lost soul, getting caught dwelling on the ball (not acceptable at his level!!) against Arsenal. Good footballers had no problem exploiting that weakness. His talent, when it appears is a benefit, his inconsistency, more often, would not be missed.

 

Tosh, grafter. Just don't see it Quinn covers far more ground and is technically a lot better. I just don't understand the love for meyler

 

I agree. We were just more attacking with Diame in the side, he was lively and he was goal threat. I hope he does manage to come back as he was for us.

 

The point still remains, I agree with you that Quinn covers a hell of a lot of ground. There is this undying love for Meyler however

 

I'd tie a load of helium balloons to Huddlestone and let him float off, he's a buck passer with no balls- today went much as I expected

 

Arf.

 

Some people here supported Huddlestone for a long time, though even last season I thought he was overrated.

 

Huddlestone was responsible for 2 of Arsenal's goals on Monday and he was poor again yesterday. The midfield just isn't working at the moment and isn't creating anything. Before every home game we see the goal Huddlestone scored against Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi last season. Where has the player who could skip through a defence gone? Tom and Jake Livermore owe us a big performance and what better place than at White Hart Lane on Saturday? Jake always seems to play well against Spurs so the question for me is are they going to show themselves as big game players or big time charlies?

 

Got bored of Huddlestone a long time ago - he has been awful since the end of 2013. Keeps getting played because he is a big name (aka, was on the fringes of the Spurs team for a while?).

 

Was just watching womens football on BT Sport, I reckon most of the lasses on there are more mobile than Huddlestone and I reckon some of them could probably outscore him in a season given a chance

 

Well they'd only need to score 1.

 

Our formation is 5-3-2. If it was 3-5-2, the full backs wouldn't spend so much time in defence, they'd be up the pitch waiting for the ball to come forward like any other winger does.

It was 3-5-2 in the championship but since we got promoted the wide men have been ordinary full backs.

 

Because of his injury it's likely Diamé will stay with us into the Championship (if relegation happens), Huddlestone will move on