Have we seen the best of Huddlestone or is he still rusty?

[stevenqoz]

It will be interesting to hear what is said on here if the boy ever does find some form......predict that it will be Avb's 'coaching' impact like it was when Defoe gained his moment in the sun earlier in the season. I still love him but then I am a bit different

 

[Flashspur]

Hudds injury was quite serious.....he is still not back to 100%

 

[Bulletspur]

They say hindsight has 20 20 vision but sometimes so can foresight. A couple years back when most of you were going wax lyrical about Huddlestone, only a very few of us saw his now apparant limitations, and we were blasted by most of you for voicing our concerns then. I really hate to say I told you so as it means we have obviously have gone backwards. Now lets all hope that AVB will see very soon how crap he is and get rid, ....for the sake of rescuing the rest of the season and for our sanity.

 

[jondesouza]

He could still come good again. He has a lot of innate ability but, as eddiebailey said earlier in the thread, he's lost something since the injury. I wouldn't be rushing to offload him but at the same time I wouldn't be picking him at the moment - he should be behind Dembele and Carroll for a starting spot at present. The time to move him on is if he falls behind another of the young players or if we buy someone new in. Until then he's one of our longest serving players and has performed fantastically well for us at times. (At the least, even if you do think he isn't up to scratch any more he does deserve a bit of respect)

 

[Syn_13]

Hudds injury was quite serious.....he is still not back to 100%

Can't agree with that. He's had all pre-season plus a good chunk of this season. He's fine, injury wise.

 

[Bulletspur]

He could still come good again. He has a lot of innate ability but, as eddiebailey said earlier in the thread, he's lost something since the injury. I wouldn't be rushing to offload him but at the same time I wouldn't be picking him at the moment - he should be behind Dembele and Carroll for a starting spot at present. The time to move him on is if he falls behind another of the young players or if we buy someone new in. Until then he's one of our longest serving players and has performed fantastically well for us at times. (At the least, even if you do think he isn't up to scratch any more he does deserve a bit of respect)

Respect is in the eyes of the beholder. Respect him all you want but I am not a hypocrite, as I have never rated him then, and I dont now.

 

[stevenqoz]

Can't agree with that. He's had all pre-season plus a good chunk of this season. He's fine, injury wise.

What part of serious injury does not compute...recovering from one may not just be about doing a 14 on the beep test. Even recovering from a hamstring injury has a mental element. Ankle injuries can also involve rebuilding confidence in doing things that once we took for granted. In Huddlestones case it seems to have affected his gait....he looks even more laboured than in previous seasons (cue laughter and weight related abuse). As I said elsewhere ....every game / minute played for Hudd will hopefully gradually get him back to a better level of performance. Unfortunately for him the run he has had in the side has co-incided with our slump. There are a lot of things wanting in his game but people are deluded if they think he has been our major problem

 

[Syn_13]

What part of serious injury does not compute...recovering from one may not just be about doing a 14 on the beep test. Even recovering from a hamstring injury has a mental element. Ankle injuries can also involve rebuilding confidence in doing things that once we took for granted. In Huddlestones case it seems to have affected his gait....he looks even more laboured than in previous seasons (cue laughter and weight related abuse). As I said elsewhere ....every game / minute played for Hudd will hopefully gradually get him back to a better level of performance. Unfortunately for him the run he has had in the side has co-incided with our slump. There are a lot of things wanting in his game but people are deluded if they think he has been our major problem

I do compute fully, but I still don't agree. He had a very long layoff, yes, but he has had a good break with near constant football since July. Throughout my career I've been very injury prone and have ruptured ligaments in my left ankle missing an entire season. The following pre-season and season I played outright, playing some of my best football early on in the season as I was raring to get back into things. I'm a heavyset guy like Huddlestone who struggles to keep his weight on track. I'm not saying I can speak directly for him but I don't find my situation too disimilar to his and he's got world class physios/doctors to help him through.

I find that the fundamental problem for Tommy is purely his lethargy. I'm not writing him off as a player, I just don't agree with the excuse that his injury is still affecting him. He's lasting 90 minute matches and from watching him I don't see him struggling with restricted movement in his ankle due to his injury. He can be a decent player, not top 4 quality and probably nothing better than a squad player at our level, but we just can't rely on him to replace either of our mids as we rely on energetic players in the middle who will do the legwork. And as a "quarterback" style player, which is arguably what he's best at, his movement off the ball is not good enough, nor is his link up play.

Sorry, I just don't think the injury is affecting him. I just don't think he's quite up to scratch. If he goes on in a year's time to do amazing things then I'll put my hands up and say I'm wrong, but for me, he's just average at best.

NB: I know it shouldn't bug me but...this rating system can be annoying. I'd rather just quote and argue if I disagree than negatively rate. It's not a dig mate, it's a free country and all that shit, I just find it to be an annoying feature.

Edit: *awaits the stream of dislikes*

 

[jondesouza]

Respect is in the eyes of the beholder. Respect him all you want but I am not a hypocrite, as I have never rated him then, and I dont now.

See, I just can't understand how you didn't rate him in the season we secured CL football. He played 33 league games, scored a couple including the vital winner home to Bolton. That season he performed magnificently. Yes, he still wasn't the most mobile player but he was able to get a bit of a shift on. His positioning, both in attacking and defensive play was infinitely better than it has been this season and he wasn't making stupid mistakes. In my view he should have gone to the World Cup.

 

[Bulletspur]

See, I just can't understand how you didn't rate him in the season we secured CL football. He played 33 league games, scored a couple including the vital winner home to Bolton. That season he performed magnificently. Yes, he still wasn't the most mobile player but he was able to get a bit of a shift on. His positioning, both in attacking and defensive play was infinitely better than it has been this season and he wasn't making stupid mistakes. In my view he should have gone to the World Cup.

Thats the whole point. In my eyes he is just an average player. A squad player for a team like Spurs unlike Derby where he was an automatic pick. I agree even squad players go through purple patches as he did when we won CL, even then I didnt think he was the best pick. Now as for him to go to the World cup, you were joking right?

 

[brasil_spur]

Rusty isn't even the right word for yesterday.

I was very surprised with how badly he played. His passing was off it's usual level, he gave away possession, not much in the way of tough tackling. I honestly can't see how Carroll wouldn't have been the better choice.

Thankfully Dembele is back now.

 

[stevenqoz]

Hudds passing was actually quite decent yesterday although as someone said he tended to slow things down and lie deep again. He picked out Dempsey with several astute passes that the player ought to have used better. He also found Bale alone in the box to set a headed chance.To me this was his best game of the season....he was under little pressure, had room and looked comfortable on the ball...he got his foot in a few times and played the 90 minutes because of the Sandro situation.....which will do him no harm. Somehow he has fought back into contention at Spurs and will probably start against the scousers....Sandro / Dembele must both be doubts to start.

 

[BorisTM]

He played well, his passing was as usual but I thought his movement was better and he was much quicker with and without the ball, he was more aggressive too, except for West Ham's goal where I thought he could have done better by putting more pressure on the player who cross the ball for Carroll, rather than letting him measure it.

 

[parklane1]

Well all i can say is thatk god Dembele is back and fit.

 

[Dinghy]

See, I just can't understand how you didn't rate him in the season we secured CL football. He played 33 league games, scored a couple including the vital winner home to Bolton. That season he performed magnificently. Yes, he still wasn't the most mobile player but he was able to get a bit of a shift on. His positioning, both in attacking and defensive play was infinitely better than it has been this season and he wasn't making stupid mistakes. In my view he should have gone to the World Cup.

I may be mis-remembering this; In that season IIRC THudd played a lot further forward than currently (generally with WP playing behind him) This season he mostly seems to be playing almost as part of the defence.
IMO he is being utilised differently and this is being reflected in his performances.

 

[Mackay6]

He played well yesterday, at least one person thought that people like me who wanted him in the team, were way off the mark, well guess what, we weren't.

Dembele against pool though.

 

[mattstev2000]

He played well yesterday, at least one person thought that people like me who wanted him in the team, were way off the mark, well guess what, we weren't.

Dembele against pool though.

I don't think he played well yesterday - he just wasn't quite as bad as he has been.

He still slowed us down in the middle of the park drastically, primarily played balls sideways or backwards and avoided too much of anything that looked like effort.

He should realistically be our 6th choice central midfielder behind Sandro, Dembele, Parker, Siggurdson and Carroll. I'd probably struggle to chose between him and Jenas.

 

[Mackay6]

I don't think he played well yesterday - he just wasn't quite as bad as he has been.

He still slowed us down in the middle of the park drastically, primarily played balls sideways or backwards and avoided too much of anything that looked like effort.

He should realistically be our 6th choice central midfielder behind Sandro, Dembele, Parker, Siggurdson and Carroll. I'd probably struggle to chose between him and Jenas.

Well all about opinions, I thought he did play well.