If things had worked out differently, Tom Huddlestone might have been battling it out at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday trying to find former Spurs man Peter Crouch in a typically dour 1-0 home win.
After that proposed loan deal had fallen through, Tom has taken his chance in the absence of Moussa Dembele and his performances have ultimately led to an England recall, albeit following several squad withdrawals over the weekend.
In the last few days, Tottenham head coach Andre Villas-Boas has been quick to praise Thudd’s efforts since returning to the team.
“Tom is a good story to tell, bearing in mind the injury he had and the amount of time he has had out. It is so good to see him play four games in 10 days,” Andre said.
“The way he has settled in the team and assumed responsibility, for a player who was out for so much time and to play this amount of games in such a short time, is all credit to him.”
The England recall will end two years of frustration for Tom after those long injury lay offs but Spurs fans seem split as to his contributions. Where do you stand – are you a Huddlestone fan or is Tom’s time up at the Lane?
I used to really enjoy watching him play as obviously his passing , particularly his long passing is up there with the best in world football.
How many key passes does he play now though? How many tackles does he win? How many times does he carry the ball out and set up attack? I found myself shouting at the tv yesterday on numerous occasions with both himself and walker the main culprits of some really soft and undecisive play. Sorry but he’s not good enough for us at the moment and his cons far outweigh his pros. Same with walker and same with Dempsey. We are carrying these guys and they hinder us. It’s a shame but it is true, anyone can see it. Id like to see Carroll play in the middle with Sandro with Ade in behind JD for sat. Arsenal will do to hudd what city did and I for one can’t watch that happen again.
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[…] The jury’s still out as Hudd returns to the England fold jQuery(document).ready(function($) { postID = 826012; if (jQuery("#jockspin_carousel_"+postID).length > 0){ jQuery("#jockspin_carousel_"+postID).hide(); } }); If things had worked out differently, Tom Huddlestone might have been battling it out at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday … […]
his performances have ultimately led to an England recall, albeit following several squad withdrawals over the weekend.
I find this incredible really. Big T is Ok in a slow paced game but other than that he is too slow, too cumbersome and too stupid(footballing wise). The sooner Djemebele and Parker is back the better
huddelstone is useless slow cant tasckle gives away the ball all the time, this is lev ys fault spurs have no midfield now we miss luka, he use to be great in tight areas never gave the ball away and pulled all the strings – joao moutinho was a perfect replacement for modric but levy a greedy jew lost the deal on personall terms and we have no class midfielder now so were not as good this season as last, demble is classs but not that type of midfielder like modders or moutinho
We are all getting tired of Huds lack of anything on the pitch. He cant tackle, his forward short range passess are mostly poor the only thing he is good for is the long range passes but to be honest WHO CARES? (we are not that kind of side!!!). Bring on Carroll instead who is much more attuned to the game we are TRYING to play think Modric!!
Don’t get me started on Dempsey. Never have I seen such a waste of money, who the hell said he was a good player he is useless.
AVB read this – play Defoe and Ade together like against Marribor and also play Carroll as the attacking midfielder.
If we play the same side this weekend this SLOW DONKEY like DEFENSIVE only play will lead to us getting beat by the scum. AVB you have the power but YOU must get the tactics right!!!!
Completely agree on this one. Huddlestone and Dempsey don’t add anything to the game, on the contrary. Huddlestone’s poor pass led to the counter attack of the first City goal and he was to stupid/lazy to run back and defend after it, but he was good at waving his arms 15 yards from the ball when they actually scored. IMO Adebayor should play behind Defoe, he held the ball up very well against City. AVB, please start Carroll or Falqué, they cannot do worse than Hudd. While we are at it, stop playing Gallas, he has had his time in the PL, my grandfather runs faster.
Totally agree. I’m a fan of AVB (for the sake of the club), however, he is putting more pressure on himself with playing Hud and Dempsey. My patience is running thin on the use of these two players as its entirely his decision on the formation, tactics and the use of these two clowns. Surely he can see that the fans are sick and tired of our lack of movement, I do appreciate that we are without Dembele, however, this is not a single excuse for our lack of creativity when we have decent youngsters ready on the bench (Falque, Carroll, Townsend).
The implications this article go a lot wider than just Hud.
I’m still supporting AVB but he must change to play Ade / Defoe together. He must also BIN Hud and try something new. Spurs supporters expect flair and passing creativity, we are not used to such poor play. Even if we lose against Arse as long as we have decent passing movement, possession and more attempts on goal we can all sit back and agree that we couldn’t of done any more. Improvement Required Now!!
I cant believe this…. only a few months ago the fans were screaming for Huddlestone to come back into the team, now they are all slating him! Do we forget that it was he who swung the ball over perfectly for Caulker to get his goal?? Give the guy a break, as we have all said, he hasnt played much football over the past 2 seasons, but it will come back. Before he went he was banging in screamers from 30 yards, let him get his confidence up and he will be a different player. Completely agree about Dempsey though, definately should have gone to Liverpool!!!
Hudd was inches away from silencing his critics ( and getting rid of his afro ! ), if his missile didn’t swerve to the left of the post at City.. would have been a typical Thudd goal off a great Ade assist, and people would be singing his praises rather than all this impatience.
Tom is returning to form & fitness with each game and though might not make the 1st team when Parker and Moussa are back, we will need him as a very useful backup
So keep working at it Tom, what you lack in agility, you make up in great passing ability, powerful shooting, and fighting spirit
I didn’t see many good passes from him this season. His “lack of agility” is a lack of fitness and lots of pounds of overweight. And even then, a midfielder in the modern game must be agile, simple as that. Fighting spirit? When?
he is undoubtedly got immense talent. He can be disappointing, slow, and indecisive, but when he plays, he has a holy heck of a shot and ridiculously good vision in the long passing and free kicks category. Jury still out, sometimes he drives me crazy he is so good, other times he just drives me crazy.
He is simply not good enough at the moment. End of argument. Stupid arguments regarding his passing and the odd assist. For fuck sake he can’t turn and tackle. He’s soft and scared of tackling people. Why cant a decent coach team to be more mobile. He’s paid loads of money to play football and he simply can’t do the basics that a midfielder needs to be able to do. I can’t think of anyone else in the whole league like him. Any world class player will take him on around our box. Sorry hudd but even if you score a screamer this season you’re still average In my book until you learn how to run with the ball and properly tackle in the midfield. God I miss Modric.