yeah i can see what he means playing one up front away from home. I cant see it happening on sunday though

We are very lucky to have the kid. I am pleased he has finally established himself in midfield, because we were desperate for physical presence in midfield last season and in all of our away games this season.

If he played in the Arse game things may have been different, who knows.

I just hope that get a win at City and get over our crap away form. Come on the Hudds!

"The good thing about Tom is that he wants to work on his game. Every day he is doing extra training, exercises with our coaches and even one day before a match he wanted to stay there for two hours. I send him inside if he wants to train too much before a game."

Striking what an excellent character this young player already has at 19!!

There's plenty of youngsters relying on their potentials but staying at the same level.

Topbloke and promising, very very promising!!

I don't know when his current contract expires but he needs to be signed on a long term extension asap.

With his rate of progress, by the time he's 22 he will be in the top echelon of midfielders in the game and all the other big clubs will be chasing him.

Hopefully we would have been successful enough in our right by then and he will have no need to leave in order to win things.

Yep quality player and can only get better.

We have to give Frank Arnesen credit for identifying good young english players from the lower leagues. Hopefully Comali can continue bring in the players. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

Hudd's rapid elevation to popular first-teamer is going to create another selection headache for 'burly' BMJ once JJ is fit again and during the one week a month Teemu is not injured or sick. So many top class midfielders, so few positions - maybe another reason to switch to one up front away from home to create another slot to keep all happy.

wouldnt like to see us with only one striker upfront away from home but if MJ choses to do this and it works then fair play to him

:bigsmile: He could play 3 strikers, pushing up both wingers higher up the pitch and one 'shadow'striker in midfield (Keane?).

Most teams in Holland play 433 or 343 and I expect Jol to go to his roots again sooner or later!

I don't quite get you, can you give a sample line-up to show what you mean?

Robbo

Chim/Stalt - King/Hudd/Gard - Daws/Hudd/Gardn - Ekot/Lee

Jenas/Lenn/Gha - Hudd/Tainio/Keane/Gha - Zokora/Steed/Murph/Dav

Lennon/Mido - Berb/Defoe/Kea/Mido - Downing??/Berb/Lenn

And maybe I'm forgotten some...
All places doubled up; they're becoming more variable and versatile in every game they learn from, though 433 (actually 42112 or 42121) is a more difficult system cause if one fails his duty the rest is in trouble! And you need the right player on the right strategic place (Hudd !?)
But our young squad is very very eager to learn and on the verge to greater things/assets.

The prospects looking good... 1 step backwards, 2 steps forward!! Slow and sure.

I remember Jol as saying at the start of last season when lennon was showing promise that wanted to nurture him into attacking mid/forward but felt that he should develop his play first out on the wing in his preferred position. With Lennon now adding goals to his game Jol seems to be realising this ambition sooner given that Lennon played behind the front two against Charlton. You may remember that he tried this at the start of the season before Lennon got injured. Given his assist for Berby's 1st last week this could be promising as we realise Jol's need for so many Centre Mids. So it is quite possible to assume that Jol wants to go 4-3-3.

On the Huddlestone topic I remember being asked if I was dissapointed to see Carrick go. Straight answer was 'NO'. I remember seeing Hudd against Charlton last season and just knew he'd be class - was worried at the time that he wouldn't realise his potential while Carrick was in the team.

My feeling with Huddlestone is not just that he is a like-for-like replacement for Carrick but that he can be so much more.
I've always been a huge fan of Carrick but he has always lacked one small thing and that is a real defensive presence. No big deal because paired with the right player it doesn't make any difference.
But Huddlestone has this, his size, his strength, his self-belief puts him, potentially, on another level. As I always said if you could combine Viera and Carrick into one you would have the perfect defensive midfielder. In Tom, we may just have this.

If we can just get Jenas to develop more into the 'Gerrard' player that I feel he could be we would have one of the best central midfield partnerships in the Prem.

Are you sure it was Arnesen that found him and not sports interactive through championship manager, we did sign Dawson and Reid also who are terrific in the game also.

Im surprised that we are in desperate need of a Left Back and we havent yet signed Billy Jones.

The Huddle

The Huddle seems to get better and better every time I see him. Saw him o Thursday and the team was not the same after he came off.

Some people here say he is a defensive/holding midfielder and have made comparisons to Carrick. However for our first goal, who else was up front to the left of Berbatov, yep The Huddle. Now I can't see Carrick making that sort of run.

The other thing he does is mop up the ball really well when we are attacking. He always seems to be in the right place to pick up the ball and has great awareness. Just his presence puts more pressure on defences, especially as he can shoot from distance which he was unlucky not to have scored from on Thursday.

Some might say that the best form of defence is attack. If this is so then The Huddle is a defensive player, For me when he plays Spurs look alot more confident and attack minded which is great for the likes of Berbie and Defoe and even other attack minded players like Ghally and Lennon.

Yes he does make the odd mistake, but this is more than made up with by his willingness and ability to attack and put teams on the back foot.

:clap:

I don't get all the hype surrounding Huddlestone.

He is a decent young player. He could pass the ball around well and shoots the ball hard. He is massive. So what?

Is he any better than Fabregas?

He needs to work on his speed and movement off the ball. I felt that he didn't contribute enough defensively and I doubt he could match the pace of the Prem. I think that he was made to look good against Dinamo because Zokora and Ghaly did all the running for him. In the Prem and playing away, you can't afford that.

Agree with 2dareis2do. On Thursday the team was not the same, understand why he came off and all that but I really wanted him to score.

Shooooooot!

This post reminds me uncannily of the kind of post that cluttered up this place two years ago when everyone was arguing about Michael Carrick. And it has the same lack of football understanding at its heart.

No one would disagree that Huddlestone needs to work on his movement off the ball. After all, Jol has said exactly that in public at least four times already this season.

But there is a simplistic understanding of football at work in this post. It's right there in between the lines: "contributing defensively" has to mean "sliding in for tackles" and "getting your shirt dirty". It also has to mean "racing all over the park like a mad thing".

Carrick would take incredible amounts of stick because he spend more than half of the match in or near the centre circle. He was constantly accused of not getting stuck in and being lazy. The fact that, after most such displays, Jol would praise him to the skies made no difference, because people saw what they wanted to see. It never seemed to occur to anyone that Carrick was stationed near the centre circle because that's where Jol told him to play, that there was a tactical reason for this and that he was being praised for his disciplined approach.

Huddlestone "working on his speed" is a bit pointless. He's never going to be remotely fast. He should work on his positioning and anticipation, which are the skills that footballers who haven't got pace require in order to excel (see also: Teddy Sheringham, Claude Makelele, Bobby Moore).

At the age of 19, Huddlestone looks entirely comfortable at Premiership level in a creative role. That in itself is quite an achievement. He makes 19-year-old mistakes, just as Fabregas made a lot of 18-year-old mistakes last season. But anyone who can't see the gigantic scope for development in his game just point-blank doesn't understand football.

What is exceptional about him is that, despite his size, his game does not depend on force or power. He uses the ball. At 19, he is already a far better passer than perhaps 85% of the other midfielders in the league. Passing, like positioning and crossing, but unlike pace and power, is a skill that a dedicated footballer can improve dramatically as they move through their early 20s. If Huddlestone is as good at passing as he is now, we have a right to think that he's going to be astonishingly good at it in 2-3 years.

And no, he isn't better than Fabregas, who is also a superb player for his age. But he is improving extremely fast (which is why there have been so many articles about him recently) and I reckon he's catching up to Fabregas pretty quickly.

Huddlestone miles better then Fabregas

Huddlestone miles better then Fabregas, ok Huddlestone won't dribble past players like Lennon, but he offers better defensive ability, and always in the right position, and remember what Jol said he is the best passer of the ball he has ever seen.
Come on let us not praise Fabregas, we are meant to be Spurs supporters.
and I have not seen a player who is strong on the ball and he never leaves the back four exsposed. :razz:

Left back position

Been saying we should sign Matthew Taylor, who is the best left back in England, also can play on the left wing if needed, good at free kicks and scores some great goal with his left foot.
Heard he has been a life long spurs supporter:hump: