Some thoughts on missing Huddlestone

[spud]

The formation that we use has been much debated on this forum this season. Has the acquisition of VdV meant that we have changed from the 4-4-2 that got us fourth place last season to 4-4-1-1? Has this mean that we are more effective? Should we revert to two main strikers and push VdV to the right?

While these points are important (and - for what it's worth - it's my belief that, if VdV isn't available, then Kranjcar should play in his place off of the main striker) the main thing to emerge from the last few games is this: we are not the same team without Tom Huddlestone.

Most agree that Huddlestone 'controls the game'. Our central defenders look for him when in possession, and you would be hard pressed to find a move where he is not involved. In his absence we have still enjoyed a great deal of possession, but it is different. With him in the team the ball comes out of defence and is used higher up the pitch. In the last few games we have seen the ball go backwards and forwards along the back four, often returning there after it has been passed forward for the process to start again. Hence the reason for the stat in the Bremen game that we had most of the possession, but they had a territorial advantage.

While Jenas is unarguably playing much better this season, and would appear to be the manager's first choice, in Huddlestone's absence, to partner Modric in the centre of midfield, his game has the effect of restricting Modric. This is also true of Palacios, a fact that his relatively poor form on most of his few appearances this season has exacerbated.

The simple truth is that when he plays with Thudd, Luka plays 10-15 yards further forward than he does with any other central midfield partner. I assume that he knows that he can do so secure in the knowledge that Tom will sit behind him, whereas JJ is a more box-to-box man and can not therefore be relied upon to hold back and cover his (Luka's) forays forward. Another reason may be that Huddlestone is far better than either of his understudies at keeping the ball, and is also a better passer - over both short and long distances. Modric can therefore get forward sooner, confident in the knowldge that possession will not be lost behind him; and when he finds space in which to receive the ball, then the ball is more likely to arrive.

The consequence of this - and we have seen it in all of the games that Huddlestone has missed - is that there is a huge gap between the centre of our midfield and the striker(s). This is disguised a little by the speed of our wide players, and by the fact that we launch a lot of our attacks from the flanks, but the result is that many of our attacks take an age to begin because both of our central midfield players are too close to the back four, and nobody is creating space in central areas further up the pitch. Our passing moves are therefore often ponderous, and we are becoming reliant on indivdual brilliance (Bale) to fashion chances rather than doing so by using the creation of space with our passing game that we witnessed last season.

This may change. If Palacios recovers the form he showed in his first few months with us, then Modric may again feel comfortable in playing further up the pitch, thus giving us options that we don't currently have. Sandro may step in and do what Huddlestone does - although he seems to be an altogether different type of player. Jamie O'Hara is more likely to be that kind of player, but is he disciplined enough; and when is he going to be fit?

True, we have won every game since Thudd got injured, and it could consequently be argued that we are not missing him. It is a tribute to the strength of our squad that we have high-quality cover for injured players, and recent matches would seem to indicate that the lack of 'mental strength' or 'belief' that has been so evident in the past has become less of a factor. But our midfield is so much more cohesive and effective with Huddlestone at its hub that we are certainly going to miss him until February. We will certainly have more Liverpool 'nail-biters' than Bremen easy wins.

Get well soon, Tom. We miss you.

 

[eddiebailey]

Good article.

I have often wondered whether Corluka might be capable of playing the Huddlestone role; certainly I have never been entirely convinced that he is a right fullback.

 

[gloryglory]

Interesting stuff.

I certainly share the analysis that there is too big a gap between our strikers and our central midfield. But the strikers have to take some of the responsibility for that as well. None except Keane naturally comes deep for the ball. I am not advocating playing Keane, because he appears to have lost his touch as well as his pace, but most teams with two strikers have someone who drops into the hole, and we need that.

Van der Vaart provides that, and that's why we can do link play with Modric and the wide men. Defoe came deep in our first goal at the Emirates, to great effect. We need more of it.

But yes, we also miss Huddlestone. Modric is wasted in the centre circle.

 

[cxplus]

It's all my fault! I kept saying - "the ONE player I don't want to see get injured is Huddlestone", now look what happened.

Good points raised above! I personally think O'hara would be the best replacement but it makes our team small. Sandro has the attributes to be a good replacement, but I think he's still adjusting to the speed of the game. As for Wilson - wow - this guy was amazing when he arrived, everything we needed but now he is struggling big time.

With Wilson it's his inability to complete a SIMPLE pass so many times that is shocking. BUT this is clearly a confidence thing and hopefully it will be sorted soon VERY soon.

 

[le_magnifique]

Huddlestone is far better than either of his understudies at keeping the ball, and is also a better passer - over both short and long distances. Modric can therefore get forward sooner, confident in the knowldge that possession will not be lost behind him; and when he finds space in which to receive the ball, then the ball is more likely to arrive.

And there it is. When you're assured of having so much more possession defence just isn't as much of a worry. No opposition can attack without the ball. It was the same when we had Carrick.

Also Huddlestone is so disciplined in his positional play that he's always available to receive the ball when someone's in a tight spot (thus keeping possession for our team) and always in the right place to break up attacks.

Players with this positional intelligence and discipline are a rare breed. You can't just go and buy one like you can a winger or a centre half because there are just so few of them. That's what makes Huddlestone so key, and, of course, so difficult to replace.

Get well soon, Tom. We miss you.

too true.

 

[JimmyG2]

As you rightly conclude we have won every game since Huddlestone got injured so what is the problem you are trying to fix?
I have suggested Kranjcar in direct replacement for Van der Vaart as the second striker and think that it is certainly worth a try
.
Modric has never been a consistent goal scorer in his career and his ability to run with ball from deep, to link up and close down makes him an ideal deep lying midfielder'
which is where he generally plays for Croatia.

I constantly yell at the back four to 'give it to Modric' and they are beginning to do this especially in the absence of Huddlestone.

Our ability to juggle our resources to overcome injuries and to adapt our play has been remarkable but it looks to be getting harder, although Bassong stepped up very well indeed.

 

[liewser]

I think the important thing is how has his absence effected results more than anything else, and to the credit of JJ, modric and the rest of the team we haven't tailed off without him.

Sure huddlestone has passing skills amongst other attributes that we don't have a replacement for, but we adjust, and as long as we are able to make our adjustments work thats the maing thing. Whilst you may feel more sure (personally im not sure I do) of our team as a defensive unit when he's in the team we were unable to keep clean sheets with him and we cant without him so our defensive remedy, whatever it may be, is going to come from elsewhere.

Whenever you replace one player with another of course your style of play will change no player is identical. I too prefer the way we play when Hudd is playing but in terms on impact on results his presence hasnt been missed much if at all.

 

[chadders]

I think one of the reasons why we have come good of late is because we have been forced to switch to 442 due to game circumstance or injury, its clear to see we are far more potent as a 442, I am not considering this for European games because I think you have to play a certain way in Europe. If Hudd was in the sides im confident we would have still won these games.

 

[PhilosoSPUR]

Nice piece, thanks for writing it. I have to say, one of the nice things about our renaissance has been how injuries have allowed new players to come in and show their worth. Bale did that, Bentley, to some extence. Defoe's injury allowed us the prolonged vdV experiment, Hutton and Kaboul have really taken their chances as well. Part of what has happened is that we have extremely high-quality players, who can perform a variety of roles intelligently. Modric, for example, has been at the center of several debates about his best position, "will he get overrun in the centre?", etc. But the amazing thing is, like vdV, and like Kaboul, and to a lesser extent, Bale, the guy can play in a lot of different positions. And they don't just fill in, either, they show us subtle new ways of playing the position.

 

[mil1lion]

I'd like to see Sandro come in and have a run of games. I've been impressed with what i've seen of him so far. He will get better by the game aswell. He made one crucial mistake at Bolton and people are saying he's not ready yet. But you can only be ready by playing games. Now we have an opportunity to bring him in and I think we should see what he's made of. He's in his early 20s, he's played some big games for Internacional and he has made a few appearances for Brazil now. Give him a run of games and i'm sure he'll surprise a few people.

Huddlestone is important because he provides an anchor in midfield. He's big and strong and he has good passing ability. Palacios is big and strong, but doesn't have the passing ability. Jenas is naturally a forward thinking player who wants to get forward, which limits Modric. Which is why I think Sandro is the ideal player to come in. He'll sit in front of the back 4 and offer protection, plus he'll keep the passes simple. He's deceptively quick, strong and full of energy. I think he's just the type of player we need in place of Huddlestone. The only thing he lacks is the Premier League experience, but you only get that by playing games.

 

[rjhotspur]

Hutton and Kaboul have really taken their chances as well.

Do people really not see that Hutton is an absolutely shocking defender. Good going forward but gets skinned by every left attacking player we play against. We will not be keeping clean sheets until that liability in defence in sorted.

 

[doom]

On balance of play Hutton is creating more than he is letting through but against quick wingers he has problems - i'd prefer Kaboul on the right.

In terms of formation - depends on who we play and whether it's at home!

 

[Nick]

I couldn't believe that against Arsenal in the 1st half Modric was our deepest midfielder and Fabregas had so much space and time to do what he wanted! Jenas, Palacios,Sandro who ever it is needs to sit in front of the back four and let Modric do his thing.

 

[onthetwo]

I'd like to see Sandro come in and have a run of games. I've been impressed with what i've seen of him so far. He will get better by the game aswell. He made one crucial mistake at Bolton and people are saying he's not ready yet. But you can only be ready by playing games. Now we have an opportunity to bring him in and I think we should see what he's made of. He's in his early 20s, he's played some big games for Internacional and he has made a few appearances for Brazil now. Give him a run of games and i'm sure he'll surprise a few people.

Huddlestone is important because he provides an anchor in midfield. He's big and strong and he has good passing ability. Palacios is big and strong, but doesn't have the passing ability. Jenas is naturally a forward thinking player who wants to get forward, which limits Modric. Which is why I think Sandro is the ideal player to come in. He'll sit in front of the back 4 and offer protection, plus he'll keep the passes simple. He's deceptively quick, strong and full of energy. I think he's just the type of player we need in place of Huddlestone. The only thing he lacks is the Premier League experience, but you only get that by playing games.

I agree - i think hes had his wake-up call from the Bolton game and they should throw him back in ASAP as i think hes the best like-for-like replacement for Hudd.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Do people really not see that Hutton is an absolutely shocking defender. Good going forward but gets skinned by every left attacking player we play against. We will not be keeping clean sheets until that liability in defence in sorted.

He was an absolutely shocking defender. Not anymore. I was not a fan and I couldn't see how he was going to improve the necessary amount at 25, but he's started to turn it around.

He makes about 2 or 3 positional errors in every match. Sometimes they cost goals, sometimes he gets away with them. He's so fast that he almost never gets "skinned" by an opposing player. His problem is that he often takes up the wrong position when the opposition is attacking in force and he is facing forward, not that he lets players get past him when it's a tight one-on-one situation, which is what "skinned" indicates. Opponents get behind him because he starts in the wrong place.

He's still only a decent defender at best, but that's a lot different from "absolutely shocking", which I would have agreed with six months ago. He's working out a productive tactical relationship with Lennon, very different in their roles from what we see with Lennon and Corluka, but promising.

There's a useful analogy with Bale playing at left back last January: he was an unreliable defender, but the key question was whether he would create more goals with his attacking skills than he would concede with defensive errors. The answer, in Bale's case, was a resounding "yes". With Hutton, it's a fine balance, but he's doing well enough to keep Corluka, who is unquestionably a better defender, out of the team and Walker out on loan.

That doesn't stop him giving us all a heart attack about twice every match, though.

 

[mil1lion]

My problem with Hutton is with letting players cut inside and shoot. He did it again yesterday. You'd think he would've learned after the Eto'o goal at the Lane. Plus I think his forward runs occupy the space Lennon plays in and it ultimately takes away from Lennons game. The best runs he makes are infield, and thats because Lennon pulls out wide and opens a gap for him to cut infield. He needs to do that more often, coming infield and either driving at the defence of threading it through for Lennon. He's very similar in style to Glenn Johnson (who also makes good runs infield at times) who happens to struggle with Lennon for England.

The Corluka/Lennon partnership is the perfect balance. Same with Ekotto at left back and Bale in front. Sure he gets forward from time to time, but he's primarily a defensive fullback. Out and out wingers and attacking fullbacks dont mix too well. It only really works with wingers who play in from the wing like Messi does with Alves overlapping him. We have to decide between Bale and Hutton as attacking fullbacks with inside wingers (Kranjcar and Giovani being the natural ones), or Corluka and Ekotto as defensive fullbacks with Lennon and Bale wingers.

I much prefer the latter.

 

[eddiebailey]

Lennon has always played best with a defensive minded-fullback (Stalteri, Corluka) rather than an attacking one (Chimbonda, Hutton). Hutton came back into the equation because both Lennon and Corluka were in miserable form. Now Lennon has his mojo back it might be worth resting Hutton and giving Corluka a run out, maybe against Twente, and see how he gets on.

 

[ero1x]

Good post thanks...

In my opinion Thud's great but in no way irreplaceable, I actually wasn't at all worried on hearing the news of him being out for 3 months as I know we have depth in our squad to comfortably fill the void.

I'd be surprised if his injury affects our performances too negatively. We will of course play differently as he does things that others can't do, but if our great form were to continue in his absence I don't think he'd be able to just walk back into the team like say Luka, VDV or Bale would if returning in similar circumstances.

Very important squad player that took his chance superbly last season and Harry also likes him a lot.

 

[spurs_viola]

I'd like to see Sandro come in and have a run of games. I've been impressed with what i've seen of him so far. He will get better by the game aswell. He made one crucial mistake at Bolton and people are saying he's not ready yet. But you can only be ready by playing games. Now we have an opportunity to bring him in and I think we should see what he's made of. He's in his early 20s, he's played some big games for Internacional and he has made a few appearances for Brazil now. Give him a run of games and i'm sure he'll surprise a few people.

Huddlestone is important because he provides an anchor in midfield. He's big and strong and he has good passing ability. Palacios is big and strong, but doesn't have the passing ability. Jenas is naturally a forward thinking player who wants to get forward, which limits Modric. Which is why I think Sandro is the ideal player to come in. He'll sit in front of the back 4 and offer protection, plus he'll keep the passes simple. He's deceptively quick, strong and full of energy. I think he's just the type of player we need in place of Huddlestone. The only thing he lacks is the Premier League experience, but you only get that by playing games.

Good points and my thoughts exactly. We may find that Sandro needs more time and support than we hoped, but until he does get a run of games we will never know for sure. Giovani was discarded without having any chance to build up his form in EPL. I hope Sandro will not suffer same fate.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I don't agree that Huddlestone "controls games". Modric sometimes controls games. Huddelstone doesn't.