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Steve Mortlock

Drop Huckerby !!!

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I will probably be burnt at the stake for my condemnation of Golden Balls, but I must go on record to say he is a total liability in a team trying to dig themselves out of a hole.  I would be first to admit, his initial impact was awesome as we marched to the Premier League, but it is clear to see he does''nt like the fact that he is not top dog anymore. 

When was the last time he left a defender in his wake and went on to score.  When was the last time he swung a decent cross into the box.  This is what the guy has in his arsenal;

1. Purposefully falls over to gain a foul (every game near enough)  

2. Falling over and shouting at the officials (sorry Darren they have found you out as well)

3. Beats the defender, only to allow the ball to slip harmlessly over the touchline

4. Never Runs into space for his full back to put a purposeful ballin to his path.  Instead he decides they are his best mate and runs almost 5 yards away from full back.  Cuts off space and options.

5.  Never leaves the touchline.  Shooting is abysmal.

Sorry Darren but you are annoying the hell out of me and thousands of others.  We need a fighter in times like these and you are not a fighter.  When you are given the left winger berth we want to see the Huckerby of old.  When you are put up front for goodness sake play up front.  I am sick of seeing Ashton fight a lonely battle up front, when you should be picking defenders off and pulling them this way and that (LEON MCKENZIE AND IAN HENDERSON STYLE)

My Team if all injuries were clear and we had a full pack to pick from (including some desired loan targets)

                                                Green

Louis Jean                 Davenport                Shackell               Drury (or another)

 

McVeigh                    Safri                       Hughes (or Michael Brown)     Brennan

 

                              McKenzie                      Ashton

 Subs: Doherty, Gallagher, Henderson, Thorne, Huckerby

Letting Edworthy, Mathias Jonsson and Svensson go, were mistakes.  Jonsson on the right would have been brilliant (knew how to cross the ball and get forward as well as the odd meaty challenge) Svensson would have provided much needed competition up front and goals out of nothing,  and Edworthy would have been handy back at this level.  Internal politics put pay to those outgoings no doubt. 

Message to Nigel Worthington.  Drop Huckerby and restore balance to the side (see above).  This will allow Dean Ashton to stay central and get on the end of telling crosses.  He has drifted out wide too much this season (due to the lack of wing play and crossing, to set himself up) and hasn''t ben as effective as he would have liked (no doubt) 

Restore Shackell to the side to see what a Shackell Davenport combo woul

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Steve,

I agree with everything you''ve said there, apart from:

Getting Shackell, McKenzie and Safri back into the team asap.  They are injured so that is not currently an option.

Also I don''t think dropping Doc for Shacks is a good idea when the Doc has been one of our best players for the last 6 or so games and Davenport is only a loan player, so we need to get the Doc and Shack partnership building sooner rather than later.

Lots of people are also banging on about Mckenzie, the most clumsy player I have ever seen, crazy legs or what.   He is not the answer.

Apart from those three points, good post.

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I agree Huckerby should be dropped and it should have happened long ago, Worthy has relied on him too often and too long, remember Fleming.  Perhaps he might turn it on for a new boss but somehow doubt it.

What is laughable is that you expect crosses to be played into Deano who will take up a central position.  We have not consistently got effective crosses in the box now for let me see at least the last 5 years.  Deano will need to go looking for the ball again and dragged out of the centre.

Can you honestly see Dean wanting to remain beyond January, his value will continue to plummet.  

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[quote]I will probably be burnt at the stake for my condemnation of Golden Balls, but I must go on record to say he is a total liability in a team trying to dig themselves out of a hole. I would be first to...[/quote]

Here is a post I made in a similar thread a couple of weeks ago - I think it concurs with your point of view 100%.

"What''s wrong with Hucks ?"

That''s exactly what supporters of all his other Clubs have ended up asking.

Although he looks like World beater when he first joins Clubs, sooner or later (normally sooner, but in our case later) the form tails off and he becomes no more than an average player who occasionally, very occasionally, has a half decent game.

This is why he has had so many Clubs and why he hasn''t, until now, stayed at any of them for very long.

I think he has a big chip on his shoulder, he''s a bit of a sulker and his attitude currently leaves a lot to be desired. 

He''d undoubtably do us, and himself, a big favour if he snapped out of it, got a grip and got on with doing what he does best.

 

 

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Sorry, but I would rather play ANYONE at the club (bar Charlton and Fleming) at left-mid than Jim "I''m actually a defensive minded left back who can''t cross, takes two touches before playing it backwards and has never played a memorable part in any match" Brennan. He should be sold, loaned out or released, but certainly not played.

Agree that Hucks needs some inspiration, but who can replace him?

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Sorry, but I would rather play ANYONE at the club (bar Charlton and Fleming) at left-mid than Jim "I''m actually a defensive minded left back who can''t cross, takes two touches before playing it backwards and has never played a memorable part in any match" Brennan. He should be sold, loaned out or released, but certainly not played.

Agree that Hucks needs some inspiration, but who can replace him?

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hucks plays on confidence, and at the minute that''s what we lack.

huckerby probably has been the most switched about player this season, but we all know that he''s best is wide left.

fair enough he''s not playing at his top form, but until safri''s revival there was and still is only 2 names which you hope and pray are there on the team sheet and thats hucks n ashton.

where''s the shout''s for Greeno to be dropped? or while we''re at it drury,colin, the doc, davenport, mcveigh, brennan, hendo need i go on..........

 

 

come on u yellas!!!

 

 

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to drop huckerby would not be right at the mo, although to kick him up the a**e would! he has to learn how to defend better, i have just seen goals on about anglia from sat and have to say it was obvious to me that he should have been tracking back for first one you cant just blame drury and for 2nd goal he put in a half hearted challenge to prevent the cross. on his day he is a matchwinner but at the moment he is very poor against sheff wed i thought he had his worst game for us. he shouls stop berating officials and put more effort into setting up chances if he cant score himself.

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woah, steve...... are you trying to say you would play brennan ahead of huckerby? ok i can see the sence in playing a full back infront of an attacking left winger.....

 

Get your head together man, who here wouldnt agree that at time huckerby can change the game. ITs just this season he hasnt had his extra touch, he is down in confidence and just cant get the team going. It proves we are not a one man team and that it is a team effort. Huckerby cant do everything by himself and he knows it, everyone has to stop relying on him so much thou

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"Jonsson on the right would have been brilliant (knew how to cross the ball and get forward as well as the odd meaty challenge)"

Did you ever see him play? He was gash and the odd meaty challenge he made ended with him walking off the pitch after a red card.

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So you guys think we should drop our Premeirship player of the season and the man who single handidly got us promoted? The man who, up until four or five games ago was our player of the season so far?

I despair at some of the stuff you people come out with sometimes. Yes, Hucks has been sh*t in the last four games but who hasn''t? Why not drop Ashton. What''s he done in the last five games other than squander chances from six yards out and failed to muster a single shot on target. Why not drop Davenport? Sure he''s looked solid at times but he''s part of a central defensive unit that''s letting in goals like it''s 1999. Why not drop McVeigh? He scored a good goal about 10 games ago but really what has he done since?

The team is poor - dropping one player isn''t going to make any difference whatsoever and I''d much rather have Hucks in the team than Brennan/Charlton/Whoever

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I agre with the first post. look at the effort he put in to preventing a shot in the first goal at wolves, it was 2 minutes into the game - was he knackered?- I have always said this guy''s a luxury, a luxury we can''t afford presently.

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Hucks is playing with a loss of confidence and always has struck me that he needs all to be going well around him for us to see him at his best.

With the current situation heads drop and his is one of the first to do so when this happens.

Look at his potential ability however and he is the type of player who can do something - more than anyone else we have on the books. For this reason I would always look to keep him in rather than drop him but in doing so give him a good kick up the rear to get him focused again.

The only one who is regularly putting in a lot of effort in recent games is Ashton. Unfortunately most of this is in areas of the field well away from where we want him to really be. Hughes always tries, even if he is lacking in the finer skills. We want similar inputs from the likes of Jarrett, McVeigh, Drury and Brennan. How many of them can say as well they have been ''honest'' to the club and the fans? It amazes me that some are looking for new contracts but seem to be just strolling through as if nothing mattered.

Perhaps as well in the 10 day break we can actually work on crossing dangerous balls into the penalty area/6 yard box. Generally speaking these and corners have been very poor with the ball aimlessly going into the stand or easily cleared by the opponents thus setting up another attack.    

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whilst i agree that huckerby hasn''t been at his best this season i think that we would be shooting ourselves in the foot if we hounded him out of the team (and club).

Frankly, he''s one of the few players who gives us hope, and without him we are a dull and inspiring team. True, he''s not the best tackler and can''t head a ball but we didn''t care about that when applauding his immense contribution to our promotion season did we? Does he have to be a jack of all trades? We have defenders who can''t defend. Let''s address that first !!

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why do so many people persist in saying hux got us promoted single handedly? he didnt!  he contributed a great deal but he was part of a decent squad of honest pros that we had at the time, which is what we are lacking now. if he did get us promoted single handedly as so many think is he going to keep us up single handed or as part of a team? i think it will be the latter!

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Anybody who slates Hucks and in the same sentence praises Jonson and Henderson should be ashamed of themselves.

This post is a disgrace.

Sure, Hucks'' form has been poor, but so has everybodies.  He is our best player (and that includes Deano) and we should support him.

I really do wonder what game people are watching at times.

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Hucks has been off form but then so has everybody in the team. You cant just single out Hucks when the whole team are performing way below par, just like you can''t single out Deano for ebing poor if the midfield dont create that many chances for him how will he score? I know he''s missed a few sitters but its a result of low confidence that the whole team has go at the moment.

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Drop Huckerby ??   I just hope he`s not reading this thread  !  he might decide  to give  Forest another go ...  remember  when he was on loan to them ?  remember how many goals he scored for them ?   is there any doubt that he would still be with them if Forest  hadn`t baulked ot the  fee ?   my GOD they paid heavily  for their   stupidity in not making funds available   , s**t they were on the brink of promotion , and Hucks would have been  the key .... just like he was for us  !  

The  " fans " now  turning  on Hucks   were probably the same ones who called him the messiah  during the promotion season ,  fair weather  fans eh ? 

During our time in the prem  , Hucks was consistantly  our most influential player  ,  he consistantly   gave pinpoint crosses  to " strikers  " who consistantly lobbed over the bar      also during that season we had a { so called ]   international keeper letting in a record number of goals !     .... this scenario MUST have  done his head in !!    and I don`t think  he`s got over it yet !!  

If we are casting around  for scapegoats  for this   season , can I suggest  there`s far more worthy [ no pun intended ]  candidates  ?  

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