Is becoming immense.

Source: Daily Mail

Tom Huddlestone has grown into the English Alonso
By Jamie Redknapp

We've all been going crazy about the midfield play of Paul Scholes and rightly so, but Tottenham's Tom Huddlestone can do all of that, too.

He's the English Xabi Alonso, who will pass a team to death with his daisy cutters, those drilled passes that skip off the grass when he pings the ball so effortlessly with either foot.

He doesn't just launch the ball. Short and long, his passing has never been questioned, but he is now more dynamic with his play.

His improved fitness has allowed him to surge upfield and he will pick up the ball 20 or 30 yards further forward.

The touch maps on this page suggest he was sitting deeper when he ran the game against Young Boys on Wednesday, operating as a front sweeper.

But, remember, he is playing in a 4-4-2. Most clubs in the modern game, especially in the Champions League, play a 4-3-3 - so he is one short for help in there.

He'd be even better in a three.

It didn't stop him against Manchester City's trio of Nigel de Jong, Yaya Toure and Gareth Barry.And there is some experience there.

He needs to score more goals and should have more faith in his shooting because he strikes the ball cleanly from distance and with pace.

In our country, we focus on what players can't do, rather than what they can do. We ask if Tom is mobile enough.

Well, he's not a box-to-box midfielder with little legs who scurries about the pitch.

He is big with long legs and a long stride.

It might look like it takes him time to cover the same ground, but he can shift and he is operating further up the pitch than he was before.

Also, you can't play in a two in there, often against three opponents, if you can't cover the ground. In the past, he could sit deep and admire his passing, but now he is going to the ball and bossing matches.

He is setting the tempo, being proactive, rather than reacting to the tempo of the game.

He's got to believe in himself more - like Steven Gerrard when he plays for Liverpool or Frank Lampard in the blue of Chelsea.

They have an arrogance about themselves - and you need that to play at the highest level.

They have a look that says: 'When I play, we play.'

Tom is starting to find that. He is growing up. He has sharpened up his fitness and is thriving playing for a manager who loves him.

Surely, he HAS to be in this next England squad.

What more does a young man have to do?

If we say one of our problems is keeping the ball and passing the ball, then here is the answer: put him in, keep him in and trust him.

He didn't go to the World Cup in South Africa, he was left out for the last squad, but I sat five or six seats away from Fabio Capello on Wednesday night and I can't believe he didn't see an England player in Huddlestone.

He is an international quality passer of the ball, who needs international experience to continue his progress.

He will get it in the Champions League now. And that, too, can only be good news for England.

... or is it Tom Hoddlestone?

The way Tom Huddlestone passed the ball around for Tottenham on Wednesday night evoked memories of one of the game's great playmakers, Glenn Hoddle.

Hoddle's sublime passing was a feature of the Spurs teams of the Seventies and Eighties, when he was regularly featured on Match of the Day.

Any more of Huddlestone's dazzling distribution and he will be renamed Tom Hoddlestone.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1306469/JAMIE-REDKNAPP-Tom-Huddlestone-grown-English-Alonso.html