views on CM´s performances.

[lukespurs7]

After getting back from the great win against Man.City,just thought I would raise a question over Palacios and Hudd.

In terms of the win,taking a step back: n.o1 fantastic result, n.o2 good performance considering the strength of our opposition. However over the last few games I've seen both Hudd and Palacios look at little suspect. Now I by no means want to drop them or sell them etc and as it happens I think they have slightly more to offer than Jenas and as a partnership,work more effectively.

That having said,issues have come up,n.o1 the fact that between the two of them we have little attacking threat especially from Palacios,ok his role is not to attack and in his energy and breaking up play he HAS brought something we've missed. In terms of Hudd he has come on leaps and bounds,I've not personally seen a better LONG passer of the ball,he's right up there with the Alonso's and Scholes's and in terms of this is helps our play noend and gives us a different dimension being able to switch play very effectively.
However as people have all mentioned before he has a lack of mobility,hardly suprising a man of his size and because technically he is so good it kind of makes up for it,although what I have noticed and if we are to really go places is that as a CM pair Palacios and Hudd dont supply direct passes to the front 2 as often as they should also they dont provide enough forward runs in my opinion that a more mobile box-box midfielder would,and don't run with the ball often enough. Strange to be criticising after such a good result I know and its not so much criticism its more an observation.

For now I no way want either player changed/replaced whatever but they are a few issues we may need to address in the longer-term as it makes our play a bit too predictable it all coming from the wings and supply to the strikers constantly from full-backs also. Liverpool have Gerrard who bursts forward, Chelsea have Lampard Man.U used to have Scholes etc etc.Obviously these players are world class and hard to come-by but a CM who scores more may be something we need to acquire in the much longer term or HUDD could just improve his shooting,I don't know.

Anyway,good performance and great result,good response from Wolves and hopefully we can get a run going again with a very good away win or at least draw at Blackburn.

views?

 

[alamo]

Tevez dropped back into central midfield with regularity. Ireland drifted inside a lot during the first half and in the second they played with three quite tight across the middle. Given that congestion I thought they did admirably which allowed us to get the ball out wide and really attack them, particularly down the right with Aaron.

I'm not saying they were outstanding as Hudds shooting was a little wayward, but in fairness we have seen him rocket them in from distance before. Their passing was a little off at times too but I still think they both did well considering.

 

[kaz Hirai]

After getting back from the great win against Man.City,just thought I would raise a question over Palacios and Hudd.

In terms of the win,taking a step back: n.o1 fantastic result, n.o2 good performance considering the strength of our opposition. However over the last few games I've seen both Hudd and Palacios look at little suspect. Now I by no means want to drop them or sell them etc and as it happens I think they have slightly more to offer than Jenas and as a partnership,work more effectively.

That having said,issues have come up,n.o1 the fact that between the two of them we have little attacking threat especially from Palacios,ok his role is not to attack and in his energy and breaking up play he HAS brought something we've missed. In terms of Hudd he has come on leaps and bounds,I've not personally seen a better LONG passer of the ball,he's right up there with the Alonso's and Scholes's and in terms of this is helps our play noend and gives us a different dimension being able to switch play very effectively.
However as people have all mentioned before he has a lack of mobility,hardly suprising a man of his size and because technically he is so good it kind of makes up for it,although what I have noticed and if we are to really go places is that as a CM pair Palacios and Hudd dont supply direct passes to the front 2 as often as they should also they dont provide enough forward runs in my opinion that a more mobile box-box midfielder would,and don't run with the ball often enough. Strange to be criticising after such a good result I know and its not so much criticism its more an observation.

For now I no way want either player changed/replaced whatever but they are a few issues we may need to address in the longer-term as it makes our play a bit too predictable it all coming from the wings and supply to the strikers constantly from full-backs also. Liverpool have Gerrard who bursts forward, Chelsea have Lampard Man.U used to have Scholes etc etc.Obviously these players are world class and hard to come-by but a CM who scores more may be something we need to acquire in the much longer term or HUDD could just improve his shooting,I don't know.

Anyway,good performance and great result,good response from Wolves and hopefully we can get a run going again with a very good away win or at least draw at Blackburn.

views?

agreed, i said before the match huddlestone could make a really good holding player, but with palacios being defensive we end up with those 2 just sitting on the half way line, huddlestone very very rarely bursts forward with or without the ball.

now this is partly the reason we failed to break down stoke and wolves when they just sit there, cause everything has to come through lennon or niko.

JJ does burst forward with and without the ball and has tremendous pace but he is also very incosistant, and maybe not confident in his own ability.

so who knows really, when modric is fully fit he has to play as he is on the precipice of being world class, Niko is 6ft 1 and fairly big, i wonder if we could play down the middle? one things for sure you cant drop him right now even for Luka.

Harry's problem :razz:

 

[SlickMongoose]

They dominated the game. You can say they should offer more going forward, but really that's the job of the wide players and strikers. Palacios wins the ball, Huddlestone sprays it around from deep and the front four do the damage. It's a nicely balanced system, really, even if we have had a few blips recently.

Hudd should shoot less, sure, and Palacios should work on his ball retention.

 

[gooch]

I agree hudd and palacios as a pairing aren't ultimately good enough. I would like to see

modric-kranjcar-palacios-lennon

three out of those four showed tonight that it's not too lightweight and would have more than enough class

 

[TwoSaintsComeMarching]

I think they played exactly how the management wanted them to play today. Dont be over eager and commit when not in possession. Keep the shape, and be very positionally aware. They were excellent at doing tht today. You could see them working together and protecting the back four. I was really pleased with their positional play. As for when in possession, there were some wayward passes, but ill allow that given they were up against a midfield of Jong, Ireland and Barry with Tevex Dropping deep.

 

[kaz Hirai]

They dominated the game. You can say they should offer more going forward, but really that's the job of the wide players and strikers. Palacios wins the ball, Huddlestone sprays it around from deep and the front four do the damage. It's a nicely balanced system, really, even if we have had a few blips recently.

Hudd should shoot less, sure, and Palacios should work on his ball retention.

the amount of assists he would probably have this season would be in double figues if he used his head and looked for a killer pass or even play a one two and use his immense size to burst in on goal.
Instead we wastes massive possesion shooting every single time

 

[nicdic]

They dominated the game. You can say they should offer more going forward, but really that's the job of the wide players and strikers. Palacios wins the ball, Huddlestone sprays it around from deep and the front four do the damage. It's a nicely balanced system, really, even if we have had a few blips recently.

Hudd should shoot less, sure, and Palacios should work on his ball retention.

Don't think Hudd should shoot less, but otherwise agree.

I think they played exactly how the management wanted them to play today. Dont be over eager and commit when not in possession. Keep the shape, and be very positionally aware. They were excellent at doing tht today. You could see them working together and protecting the back four. I was really pleased with their positional play. As for when in possession, there were some wayward passes, but ill allow that given they were up against a midfield of Jong, Ireland and Barry with Tevex Dropping deep.

Yep :up:

 

[fazza]

The big problem is how do you get Modric back into the side, your not gonna drop Kranjcar are you, or Lennon.

 

[leffe186]

Agreed with both. Some people seem to expect everyone to have a perfect game and if they make a couple of mistakes then get on their back. Of course Wilson gave the ball away a couple of times today but he also made some nice passes and worked really hard to ease the burden on the Hudd and the wide players.

I'd really like to see Modric get a run alongside Wilson in the middle, with Kranjcar on the left. Really, it's a brilliant problem to have - still much more worried about the centre of defence during the ANC.

 

[fazza]

Huddlestone will probably deputise at the back during the ANC so Modric will probably be back in the starting lineup then.

 

[leffe186]

Huddlestone will probably deputise at the back during the ANC so Modric will probably be back in the starting lineup then.

Agreed, but that makes me so nervous about our vulnerability to pace.

 

[SpurSince57]

It's a problem I'd rather have than not have, to be honest.

As for Palacios and the Hudd, I thought they did splendidly. As TwoSaints says, Barry, de Jongh and Ireland is a seriously good midfield (although I'm not sure Hughes isn't giving himself problems trying to accommodate all three of them), and Tevez was dropping back to help out. They got very little change out of our pair. You can nit-pick about certain aspects of their individual games, but on the whole I feel it's a combination that's been undervalued this season.

I suspect that Harry would like a midfielder with the Hudd's passing ability and Jenas' athleticism, but I can't think of too many of those going.

 

[kaz Hirai]

Huddlestone will probably deputise at the back during the ANC so Modric will probably be back in the starting lineup then.

Eek totally forgot about bassong, will we see king or woodgate by then? i pray to the lords of kobol that we do.

corluka and huddlestone can do the job i guess but lack of pace is a worry

 

[danielneeds]

agreed, i said before the match huddlestone could make a really good holding player, but with palacios being defensive we end up with those 2 just sitting on the half way line, huddlestone very very rarely bursts forward with or without the ball.

now this is partly the reason we failed to break down stoke and wolves when they just sit there, cause everything has to come through lennon or niko.

JJ does burst forward with and without the ball and has tremendous pace but he is also very incosistant, and maybe not confident in his own ability.

so who knows really, when modric is fully fit he has to play as he is on the precipice of being world class, Niko is 6ft 1 and fairly big, i wonder if we could play down the middle? one things for sure you cant drop him right now even for Luka.

Harry's problem :razz:

I wouldn't be surprised if when another team comes and parks the bus at WHL Redknapp mightl put Modric or Kranjcar in the middle.

 

[jonnyp]

It's a problem I'd rather have than not have, to be honest.

As for Palacios and the Hudd, I thought they did splendidly. As TwoSaints says, Barry, de Jongh and Ireland is a seriously good midfield (although I'm not sure Hughes isn't giving himself problems trying to accommodate all three of them), and Tevez was dropping back to help out. They got very little change out of our pair. You can nit-pick about certain aspects of their individual games, but on the whole I feel it's a combination that's been undervalued this season.

I suspect that Harry would like a midfielder with the Hudd's passing ability and Jenas' athleticism, but I can't think of too many of those going.

Such a player certainly wouldn't be playing for Spurs that's for sure!

 

[Legend10]

I can see why you're worrying about how this affects our attacking play and goal threat.

We've only scored 38 goals in 17 league games, which is 4 less than Chelsea, 3 less than Arsenal, more than Man Utd & Liverpool and considerably more than anybody else.

 

[Kendall]

I felt Palacios was covering Huddlestone's arse a bit in the final 25 minutes, but on the whole a good, solid, pressing performance.

 

[SpurSince57]

I can see why you're worrying about how this affects our attacking play and goal threat.

We've only scored 38 goals in 17 league games, which is 4 less than Chelsea, 3 less than Arsenal, more than Man Utd & Liverpool and considerably more than anybody else.

:rofl:

You do learn some remarkable things on here, don't you? Only last week I discovered that Huddlestone can't tackle, which is rather strange since I'm sure I've seen him put in quite a few this season, and the stats inform me that he's only just behind Palacios on that score.

 

[Goldman]

I felt Palacios was covering Huddlestone's arse a bit in the final 25 minutes, but on the whole a good, solid, pressing performance.

Although i hate to admit it, i agree with Kendall.

Hudd definately faded for me around the 70min mark. I felt Jenas should have been sent in a good 20 mins before he was.