Comments on: Tom Huddlestone deserves everything he gets

By: Lucus

Lucus — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:05:47 +0000

I’m surprised by the lack of support for Huddlestone evident here.

Personally i think he’s still developing and is showing more signs now of turning into a fine player – I’d rate him now as good as Carrick and everyone moaned when we sold him!

He has his faults but agree the potential is there for all to see. He retains possession brilliantly, even if not all passes are defence splitting ones he carries out a vital role for the team which I think is the basis of our success so far.

Our defence is settling down now but has actually been shaky for the first part of the season, and the forwards have worked off the solid platform that Hudd & Palacios have built.

Spurs work down the wings, but you need a solid midfield duo to do that which is what we’ve had.

By: danno

danno — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:49:58 +0000

He’s made the third highest amount of tackles in the entire Prem and our fans claim he doesn’t tackle enough. He’s also made the 3rd highest amount of passes in the entire Prem and our fans claim he disappears in games. As for his passing not being to dangerous areas, then how come he’s created 30 chances and it amongst the highest midfielders in the Prem for creating chances. But his job isn’t so much to create chances, but to get the ball to the wide players as quickly as possible. As ahrry said the other day, he wants us to get the ball to Lennon whenever we can.

Why does Harry pick him every week? Maybe it’s because he’s so important ot us and is the ultimate unsung hero. He’s had a fantastic season and some of the comments in this thread are embarrassing. Most of our play goes through him and he sets the tempo for the team. He’ll be one of the first names on the team sheet for the rest of the season and I wouldn’t be at all suprised if Cappello takes him to the WC. It seems Capello rates him far more than most of our fans!

By: TonyTott

TonyTott — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:15:45 +0000

Can I repeat what I just said? ONLY Fabregas, Lampard, Gerrard and Barry have more assists from central midfield. Do you expect him to be as good as them? If 3 is not an acceptable return, ALL other central midfielders have a poor number of assists. Besides – it is widely known that Spurs get their goals from the wings – that’s why Lennon has many assists and Kranjcar has overtaken Hudd. I know one thing, if we had played with Jenas / Palacios, we would be doing much worse – and Jenas is vastly more experienced.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:03:04 +0000

No one on here is being pessimistic, miserable or complaining about Spurs. I think everyone agrees that the team is playing well. So please don’t deflect away from the meat of the discussion; namely The Hud. 3 assists from 40 goals is not good from a creative type midfielder who is “known” for his passing. 1 Goal is also not good from a creative type player who has a “great” shot. For someone who supposedly has “a great range of passing”…..he should be taking every freekick around the box and every corner, which would result in more goals …but he doesn’t because he doesn’t take good freekicks & corners

The Hud has no range of passing, apart from crossfield to someone hugging the touchline – That’s IT! And whilst that doesn’t create much from an attacking perspective – It does keep the ball away from teams attacking us, which does fulfil a role.

By: Devonshirespur

Devonshirespur — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:27:19 +0000

Ton your comments are fairly lame….according to you he is our weak link, especially away from home, but our away form has been very good. much better than recent years….so that is down to everyone but Huddlestone is it? Although many love palacios, many will also acknowledge that he has not hit the heights he hit last year and is sloppy in possession.

Huddlestone adds a creativity that neither JJ or Palacios get near to. His work rate now is much better and although he lacks their agility & energy, he adds creativity & vision.

So many typical miserable Spurs fans responding on this. We are 5th, having the best season for a while. We are scoring for fun and as a defence we are much much better….where’s the positivity FFS!? Huddlestone has played a big part in this…Keep it up Tommy!

By: TonyTott

TonyTott — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:46:16 +0000

Also, someone asked why is his assist rate low. Firstly, it isn’t low – 3 is a decent number of assists for half a season. Gerrard only has 5 – and there are only 4 central midfielders with more than Hudd – Fabregas, Lampard, Gerrard and Barry. Who are all internationals and more experienced. Besides, Hudd starts attacks – he assists the assists. I wouldn’t want him trying that ‘Hollywood’ ball every time, sometimes a steady attack is best. And please don’t forget that the guy is still inexperienced – he is 23 and only has 65 full appearances. Fabregas has well over twice that. He is not the greatest, but he will get better. People are too harsh on him – we are having one of the best seasons I can remember – and he has been ever present in centre midfield beside Palacios who is not at his best – Hudd must be doing something right.

By: TonyTott

TonyTott — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:34:16 +0000

You can say many things about Hudd – but cannot say that he can’t shoot! Come on. You lose all credibility with that statement. If there is a chance outside the box, he is the one in the team that you would want on the end of it – ahead of all strikers.

By: akispurs

akispurs — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:00:13 +0000

cant believe the author wrote this. Apart from some long range pass to lennon or modric and 1 or 2 tackles he puts in, he cant shot, cant dribble, no pace. He is like a diamond, apart from makes u stand out in a posh banquet, no real usage otherwise. I appreciated what he did for us, but going to WorldCup??? hahahaha.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:14:33 +0000

Like most of you guys, I like Tommy Hud but just haven’t seen enough of an improvement on the field from a player who obviously has much talent. If you compare him to Fabregas, the one thing that immediately stands out is the number of defence splitting passes this guy puts in, 4 or 5 every game. Before I can give regular plaudits to The Hud, I would like to see some of this stuff on a regular basis:
* Slide rule passes
* Reverse passing
* More & better shots
* More assists (he has very few)
* Freekicks that test the goalkeeper (we are terrible in this area)
* The occasional dribble

His passing completion rate might be high, then why is his assist rate so low? Which points to the obvious; he passes to team mates who are in non dangerous areas, and thus the markers are far away.
He needs to take things by the scruff by the neck and perhaps watch a few Hoddle Videos. Or better still get Hoddle in once a week to work with him. This is perhaps the one area in Harry’s coaching set up that he hasn’t got covered.

By: Mark Frost

Mark Frost — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:44:26 +0000

Totally disagree. If Tottenham want to kick on to top four and challenge for the title, we need to get a much better midfielder than Huddlestone. He never delivers against the big team, regularly goes missing away from home and does not dominate against weak opposition. For every ‘glory’ pass that succeeds there are 2 or 3 that don’t. He has improved a lot, but is not mobile enough, not strong enough, doesn’t score enough. Good squad player.