Huddlestone - he has his uses

[davidmatzdorf]

As others have suggested, although he is not individually our best player, Huddlestone is the most important squad member to keep our team functioning - and winning and scoring.

I have just spent fifteen minutes working out how we have performed in our 18 matches so far this season, with and without Huddlestone on the pitch, taking into account his substitute appearance at Young Boys and his substitution by Palacios late on at the San Siro.

Here's the tally:

With Huddlestone (1,315 minutes):
Scored 28 (47 minutes per goal)
Conceded 19 (69 minutes per goal).

Without Huddlestone (305 minutes) :
Scored 4 (76 minutes per goal)
Conceded 10 (30 minutes per goal).

It's the very last stat that is really telling: it corresponds to us conceding 3 goals per match without Hudd - more than twice as many as with him.

The defence rests.

 

[C-oops]

Never really a fan of these type of stats as can be interpreted in so many ways. However.It is plainly obvious to all but the most blinkered that without Hudd keeping everything ticking over in the middle we dont play as well. I am never confident when he doesnt start. Mainly because he is the only player we have that can do what he does, in the same position. When he doesnt play,our style changes which really doesnt help. Thought it was a big mistake to go with sandro and Wilson yesterday. Why compromise our style of play. Let the other team worry about us and change how they play.

 

[tttcowan]

Completely agree. He's been brilliant all season.... He's another one I expect red nose to be sniffing around for the foreseeable future.:roll:

 

[johnno]

This article is a detailed version of my fb status yesterday. We rarely lose when hudds starts.

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Nice work, very interesting.

And all the more shame on him for trying so very hard to miss more of our matches with that disgusting stamp.

 

[StokeSpur]

the stats would be even more impressive if Daws and Bassong were playing too, Galas & Kaboul are a nightmare, Hutton is only good going forward, those three make far too many mistakes for this level of football.

 

[dayid]

Couldn't agree more David. I have been saying for weeks that he is our key player.

He should be the first name on the team sheet every week and should have been 'risked' yesterday. We would have won the game. He makes us tick and he calms us down.

Far more important than Bale, Modric et all in my opinion...

For me this was the most important match of the season so far. Win it, and we are right in the mix. Lose it, as we have, and we have completely lost pace with the top 4...

Please don't play Sandro in important matches like this 'Arry.

 

[kernowspur]

Interesting stats but then BC produces stats that go the other way. He has certainly not been brilliant all season - eg. yesterday when he came on he was very poor, and against Inter away. I still believe Modric is our most important player

 

[RogerTCB]

...

The defence rests.

:grin:

 

[Marty]

Interesting stats but then BC produces stats that go the other way. He has certainly not been brilliant all season - eg. yesterday when he came on he was very poor, and against Inter away. I still believe Modric is our most important player

He wasn't brilliant yesterday but did you see how much better the team looked as soon as he came on? Even when he has an off day the team plays better just because he's there.

 

[Stavrogin]

The difference with Huddlestone is that when he shifts the ball about, even though it seems simple, he gives it to players in such a way that they can 'move forward'.

It's the real 'stat' we need to watch with him. See what the person he passes to does. When our midfield was at its stultified worst, players were frequently receiving the ball with their backs to goals or having to come back to get it etc. It meant the opposition could easily get men behind the ball, that we lost possession and so on.

Watch the range of his simple/short passing. It's a subtle thing but it has a knock on effect. Huddlestone is a ray of sunshine in our otherwise miserable lives... but who can cheer him up?

 

[JimmyG2]

Good work but did I miss something here?
Was it necessary to launch the SAS to rescue a kitten up a tree?

Huddlestone was almost an ever present last season in our best season for years in midfield combinations with Modric and Palacios.
He can't play every game and resting him yesterday was reasonable in view of another game in midweek. The fact that he was brought on once again to rescue a floundering team speaks volumes.

Who seriously questions that he is not a key player?
Well, except those that can't tell a good player from a pit pony.
Those still attaching the epithet 'lacks mobility' to his name.

Modric Bale and Van de Vaart may be taking the limelight at the moment ands quite rightly too but over the last 18 months he has been the key component in our success.

When they clear out the England squad and Capello he should be installed at the heart of the the England team.

However all the stats show that Pavlyuchenko is our most effective striker as he was last season in terms of goals/minutes played and currently our top scorer in all competitions.
In Defoe's absence he should have been first choice more often but I suspect that you would not accept this.
Statistics only go so far in convincing people.

 

[diamondlight]

The difference with Huddlestone is that when he shifts the ball about, even though it seems simple, he gives it to players in such a way that they can 'move forward'.

It's the real 'stat' we need to watch with him. See what the person he passes to does. When our midfield was at its stultified worst, players were frequently receiving the ball with their backs to goals or having to come back to get it etc. It meant the opposition could easily get men behind the ball, that we lost possession and so on.

Watch the range of his simple/short passing. It's a subtle thing but it has a knock on effect.

Good point. I once read a quote to the effect that when Fabregas (excuse me) passes the ball, it has 'information on it' - meaning that the trajectory of the ball in relation to the receiver tells them where they should move once they receive it. Fascinating thought - and surely crucial to a fluid, dynamic team. I'm sure that the Hudd, Modric and VDV all pass the ball with information on it - as opposed to Palacios and our central defenders against Bolton who were just clunking it in the general direction of a white shirt.

 

[kernowspur]

He wasn't brilliant yesterday but did you see how much better the team looked as soon as he came on? Even when he has an off day the team plays better just because he's there.

We played better in the last 10 minutes not the last 30 that Hudd was on the pitch for. We were still terrible until those last 10 minutes.

 

[kernowspur]

He wasn't brilliant yesterday but did you see how much better the team looked as soon as he came on? Even when he has an off day the team plays better just because he's there.

we played well for the last 10 mintues not the last 30 when Hudd was on the pitch. We were still terrible until those last 10 minutes

 

[guate]

Last season when players were going down with injuries like flies being swatted those squad players that replaced them stepped up a level or so and so in some cases made the position their own. This season, for some reason, those given the chance to step up just haven't done so with the same aplomb meaning that players like Hudd and Bale just don't get the rest they deserve
Maybe 'Arry needs to try some of the kids like Livermore, Rose etc to see if they have more appetite for the game.

 

[PT]

We'll know tomorrow if the book gets thrown at him for that childish stamp which will see him miss possibly up to three Premiership matches.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

There were a couple of mistakes in my original calculation: I forgot that there were 30 minutes of extra time in the Arsenal CC match and I got the timing of his substitute appearance against Bolton wrong. Corrected stats:

With Huddlestone (1,255 minutes):
Scored 28 (45 minutes per goal)
Conceded 17 (74 minutes per goal).

Without Huddlestone (395 minutes) :
Scored 4 (99 minutes per goal)
Conceded 12 (33 minutes per goal).

So the corrections actually make the effect more dramatic.

 

[Son_Of]

As others have suggested, although he is not individually our best player, Huddlestone is the most important squad member to keep our team functioning - and winning and scoring.

interesting. good work on the stats. we need him to cut out the petulance then if he's so crucial

The defence rests on the sickbeds.

fixed