Tom Huddlestone

Hull have been really good barring 30 minutes against Chelsea where both Huddlestone and Livermore were on the bench. He's very important to them.
 
Hardly a surprise he's doing well for Hull. Exceptional technique and passer of the ball.
 
He strikes the ball so sweetly but I don't agree with this idea he's got exceptional technique. His first touch and close control isn't particularly impressive.
 
Really? His only weakness is his fitness and lack of mobility.
 
I'm sure he's revelling in the responsibility and recognition. Some guys are made for that big fish small pond scenario. Himself and Livermore were good aquisitions for big Steve.
 
Do you think he can help keep Hull up for this season at least? I actually think it will be Crystal Palace and Sunderland (don't know about the third yet) who are definitely getting relegated this season. If they have a good season and improve the following season, they could be comfortably lower mid table within several years.
 
He will be integral if Hull are to have any chance of staying up. I haven't seen much of Hull, so I'm not in much of a position to form an opinion of them, but they don't seem to have much depth in their squad and their forwards don't exactly inspire confidence - although Aluko looks quite impressive.
 
How can he only be playing for Hull City? I watched him against Liverpool and he was the best player on the park and yesterday against us I thought the same. He didn't look fat or massively slow either. I like Cleverly but how can he be in the England squad ahead of Huddlestone? Surely he's a better option for Everton than Barry in the summer. Barry has been a great loan deal for them, but Huddlestone is just as good and 6 years younger. I think he'd be fantastic at the hub of a Martinez team, as his awareness of what is around him, pass selection and executions is top notch.
 
Agreed. He's been stellar all season long. I commented to my father during the match yesterday that we needed to curb his influence pretty sharpish, which we did, to a very small extent.

Still, he was the best midfielder on show yesterday.
 
Always rated him very highly. His passing is brilliant. Was a moment yesterday when he received the ball quite hard on the half volley and he calmly flicked it around straight to the feet of their winger.
 
He's extremely immobile but apart from that he's a very technically skilled player. There's no way he should be playing for a team of Hull's quality.
 
I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for him with that hair now. Surely Hull could let him take a penalty?
 
Always liked him but he's just so immobile and slow.

He was absolutely immense a few years ago in midfield with Modric at Spurs. Then he did what he has often done and picked up a serious injury which ruled him out of pretty much the whole of the next season.
 
Never thought anything of him until he went to Hull. Not sure what it was but all of a sudden he seemed so assured in midfield. Rather than just being massive, he seemed to become an important part of a side. Him and Livermore seem to have formed a really good partnership at Hull; no chance they'll go down with the style of football they play. They've got the ability to pull it off, too.
 
Very nice player when on form, and he is Spurs best midfielder this year IMO.

Always rated him very highly. His passing is brilliant. Was a moment yesterday when he received the ball quite hard on the half volley and he calmly flicked it around straight to the feet of their winger.

Yeah, that was great technique.
 
They are the only side playing the kind of system that can accommodate a player who is as slow as a 34 year old Pirlo.


Yet Gareth Barry can play for Everton!

Also, today they changed system and played 442 and Bruce said it was as good a performance as he can remember having seen. Also when Spurs qualified for the CL he played in a 2 man central midfield with Modric.

There are also two sides to the game and I don't see how the system explains his defensive stats. For example, he made 7 tackles against us. Today he made 5 interceptions. These are ball winning stats the best DM would be proud of.

I think he suffers more than any other player from people reaching conclusions about him regardless of what he does on the pitch. We know he's slow, so everyone focuses on it. But the purpose of movement is so you can get on the ball and get it back when the opposition has it. Huddlestone does that.
 
Gareth Barry is not the same type of player as Huddlestone. He's a much better reader of the game. You don't need to be quick to be a good DMC. Most of the good ones aren't. Busquets barely sprints. He positions himself correctly.

Huddlestone probably gave the poorest performance, defensively, I've seen from a midfielder against United this season.
 
So Huddlestone is slow and he can't read the game, yet he's made 2.8 tackles per game this season and Barry 2.2. Huddlestone has made 2.2 interceptions and Barry 1.2 per game. How does he make these interceptions without reading the game? Do the opposition take pity on him for being slow and pass him the ball?

I just looked on youtube and there isn't anything from him this season. But there is a clip of him playing in the CL, just before he had the ankle injury that held him back for the next 3 years and I'm sorry but I'm really struggling to see this ultra slow player who can't read the game. Obviously he isn't fast by footballer standards, but people talk about the guy as if he can hardly move. He's clearly reasonably mobile and on the ball he's surprisingly nimble and easily wrong foots opponents:

 
Yet Gareth Barry can play for Everton!...
I believe even he is faster than Huddlestone ....

Also, today they changed system and played 442 and Bruce said it was as good a performance as he can remember having seen...
And it was against Fulham..who have been largely insipid. I'd like to see Bruce try it against a more aggressive outfit. For I'm a huge fan of Huddlestone. But his lack of pace consistently works against him, both at club and international Level. That is why a Spurs could dare let a player of his natural talent go....

... Also when Spurs qualified for the CL he played in a 2 man central midfield with Modric.
You seemed to think I said he lacked quality. I never did...Besides, Redknapp was the manager. He picked Huddlestone for his football skills. He wasn't the type to pick pace over ability...

There are also two sides to the game and I don't see how the system explains his defensive stats. For example, he made 7 tackles against us. Today he made 5 interceptions. These are ball winning stats the best DM would be proud of
True. Remember, I never said he can't defend. I said he is extremely slow. Two totally different things....

I think he suffers more than any other player from people reaching conclusions about him regardless of what he does on the pitch. We know he's slow, so everyone focuses on it. But the purpose of movement is so you can get on the ball and get it back when the opposition has it. Huddlestone does that.
Huddlestone is the epitome of letting the ball do all the work. He is a good game reader too in defensive play. But in a league like the EPL, faster players will always be preferred over him at most clubs. Which is most unfortunate. Personally I'm glad Bruce has taken the chance on him. He will reap handsome dividends...

Personally If I was manager at Juve I would buy the fella, as another option to have as Pirlo finished up his career..but that's just my ''championship manager'' side talking..
 
I believe even he is faster than Huddlestone ....

And it was against Fulham..who have been largely insipid. I'd like to see Bruce try it against a more aggressive outfit. For I'm a huge fan of Huddlestone. But his lack of pace consistently works against him, both at club and international Level. That is why a Spurs could dare let a player of his natural talent go....

You seemed to think I said he lacked quality. I never did...Besides, Redknapp was the manager. He picked Huddlestone for his football skills. He wasn't the type to pick pace over ability...

True. Remember, I never said he can't defend. I said he is extremely slow. Two totally different things....

Huddlestone is the epitome of letting the ball do all the work. He is a good game reader too in defensive play. But in a league like the EPL, faster players will always be preferred over him at most clubs. Which is most unfortunate. Personally I'm glad Bruce has taken the chance on him. He will reap handsome dividends...

Personally If I was manager at Juve I would buy the fella, as another option to have as Pirlo finished up his career..but that's just my ''championship manager'' side talking..


Spurs let him go as he spent most of the previous 3 seasons injured and AVB want athletes. In his post game interview, Bruce even said the reason he's playing so well is because he's recovered from his ankle problems.

I'd be amazed if Barry beat Huddlestone in a race. Its obvious not having pace does work against him, but it doesn't mean he should only be playing at a club like Hull. He makes up for it in other areas and the clip I posted does demonstrate he really isn't this immobile lump most think he is. Maybe in the last couple of years he's been particularly slow, but he had an ankle problem which he couldn't shake and in the end had to sit out an entire season. He then had to try and get fit whilst hardly ever featuring. But now the ankle is fine, he's playing every week and he is clearly an excellent shape.

I don't think we are really disagreeing with each other. I just think he's done enough to be playing at a higher level and my main point is that he's shown he can do it in the past and due to injuries it's been forgotten. I think he'd be great for Newcastle, Everton, Villa (I know they are below Hull, but are a bigger club and ironically I think he'd be great for Spurs. Ultimately I think due to injuries in recent year and weight struggles as a youngster people forget how good the guy is when fit and playing.

The whole Huddlestone issue is something that bugs me as an Englishman. We spend all our time saying we don't create technical enough players and when we do produce one, everyone says he isn't physically good enough! The fact he lets the ball do the work, as you point out, seems to be lost on too many people.
 
Spurs let him go as he spent most of the previous 3 seasons injured and AVB want athletes. In his post game interview, Bruce even said the reason he's playing so well is because he's recovered from his ankle problems.

I'd be amazed if Barry beat Huddlestone in a race. Its obvious not having pace does work against him, but it doesn't mean he should only be playing at a club like Hull. He makes up for it in other areas and the clip I posted does demonstrate he really isn't this immobile lump most think he is. Maybe in the last couple of years he's been particularly slow, but he had an ankle problem which he couldn't shake and in the end had to sit out an entire season. He then had to try and get fit whilst hardly ever featuring. But now the ankle is fine, he's playing every week and he is clearly an excellent shape.

I don't think we are really disagreeing with each other. I just think he's done enough to be playing at a higher level and my main point is that he's shown he can do it in the past and due to injuries it's been forgotten. I think he'd be great for Newcastle, Everton, Villa (I know they are below Hull, but are a bigger club and ironically I think he'd be great for Spurs. Ultimately I think due to injuries in recent year and weight struggles as a youngster people forget how good the guy is when fit and playing.

The whole Huddlestone issue is something that bugs me as an Englishman. We spend all our time saying we don't create technical enough players and when we do produce one, everyone says he isn't physically good enough! The fact he lets the ball do the work, as you point out, seems to be lost on too many people.
Indeed.

And to clarify what I meant earlier was Hull are the only team that are willing to play a system to reap the benefit of accommodating such a player. His level is way above theirs easily...and I feel they know it and jumped at the chance to bag him.....Other teams would view him as a luxury due to his outrageous on the ball skill and lack of pace though and it saddens me personally. In a place like Italy for example they'd love him to bits...
 
He strikes a ball like nobody else, such a pure technique.

I always felt if he could move around the pitch better he could be a truly top drawer footballer, dunno why it never happened for him though, he seems a bit of a wasted talent. When he was at Derby he was touted as the next big thing.
 
One of the cleanest strikers of a ball I can remember seeing. Should be playing for a better team than Hull.
 
Well he did, that didnt work out for him....


It did, but he got injured and missed one entire season and big chunks of the seasons either side. He went to Spurs as a 18 year old kid and 4 years later formed a CM pairing with Modric that got them into the CL. But then the injury problems started.
 
Also, Spurs signed about twenty-five other central midfielders whilst he was out injured, so he was always going to struggle to get back into the team.