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Alex Harvey-Jones

Darren Huckerby a one season wonder!!??

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I have been disappointed with Huckerby''s contribution this season. He has consistently failed to reach the levels to which he played during our promotion season when he frequently ripped defences to shreads!! He also didn''t set the world on fire in the premiership last season with a few notable exceptions such as the game away to Tottenham when he ran them ragged in the second half! Looking back at his career he has had brilliant seasons with Leeds and Coventry and played well on loan at Forest but he doesn''t seem to be able to reproduce that season after season at the same club. I therefore wonder whether he needs a new challenge regularly to enable him to play and is too much in a comfort zone now in Norwich. Huckerby loves the club and his family are settled in the area. Worthy and Delia love Huckerby as do the fans and he knows he has no danger of being left out for long at Norwich - could it be that there isn''t sufficient motivation for him any more especially as he achieved his biggest goal of getting Norwich promoted to the prem??

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Controversial!!!

Darren was awesome in the Championship season, without him we would not have even made the playoffs.  Last year was hard, but he still performed well, and was always our most potent (and often only) threat on the opposition. Didn''t he win player of the season last year too?!

This year he has played well in spurts, poor for his own standards, and lacking consistency. You could argue that he is our only dangerman, and so teams are doubling up on him. I really think we need a right winger to see the best in Hucks. All the play gets spread out to our left when we play. Huckerby likes space to run at defenders. If we get a right midfielder who scares defenders, Huckerby will get more creative freedom.

Anyone see the winger playing for Leicester yesterday, on loan from Arsenal. Looked ideal :-)

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I understand what you are saying to a certain extent - but if we were to lose Huckerby we would have no pace and no creativity coming forward - i think we should review it next season when he is approaching 3o, but for now he stays.

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" especially as he achieved his biggest goal of getting Norwich promoted to the prem?? "

............. achieved his biggest goal of getting a fat contract more like

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Do you think it might be less to do with Huckerby himself and more to do with the fact that after our promotion season every manager in the country realised that if they stop Huckerby then they stop us because the rest of the side is about as dangerous as my granny (and less creative to boot). 

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Disagree Alex, I think he does try and does care deeply about the club. He is the type of player that will always look much better when the team are playing good football and winning. If we can keep Ashton and sort the midfield during this transfer window I think we might see the best of both him and the team in the remainder of the season.

Mark .Y.

 

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I could  answer this thread with a mouthful !    but   I`ll just point out that [ if it really NEEDS  pointing out ]   McVeigh`s recent   hot spell  would never have got off the ground  without Hucks !   

Mad Dan ...  Hucks did land a " fat " contract  , why ? because he`s earned it !   the other players may not like it  [ jealousy ? ]   but its up to THEM   to  show what they`re made of , not stand off  whenever Hucks gets the ball  !!   because this smacks  of  pure  envy  .......

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[quote user="Mark .Y."]

Disagree Alex, I think he does try and does care deeply about the club. He is the type of player that will always look much better when the team are playing good football and winning. If we can keep Ashton and sort the midfield during this transfer window I think we might see the best of both him and the team in the remainder of the season.

Mark .Y.

 

[/quote]

Sort the midfield - how many has he brought so far?? I would chuck the lot of them bar Safri and well one from three and get koumas in and play rossi Jarvis and Spillane as cover

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[quote user="Alex Harvey-Jones"]I have been disappointed with Huckerby''s contribution this season. He has consistently failed to reach the levels to which he played during our promotion season when he frequently ripped defences to shreads!! He also didn''t set the world on fire in the premiership last season with a few notable exceptions such as the game away to Tottenham when he ran them ragged in the second half! Looking back at his career he has had brilliant seasons with Leeds and Coventry and played well on loan at Forest but he doesn''t seem to be able to reproduce that season after season at the same club. I therefore wonder whether he needs a new challenge regularly to enable him to play and is too much in a comfort zone now in Norwich. Huckerby loves the club and his family are settled in the area. Worthy and Delia love Huckerby as do the fans and he knows he has no danger of being left out for long at Norwich - could it be that there isn''t sufficient motivation for him any more especially as he achieved his biggest goal of getting Norwich promoted to the prem??[/quote]

Treason!.  Burn the non believer!.

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He''s a witch! Burn him! But, seriously, I think that he is targeted as our only dangerman. If other teams can stop him then they can stop us invariably. This has been partially remedied by McVeigh''s recent run up front and with a decent right winger to occupy opposition defences I think you would soon see the best of Huckerby again. As it is he chips in more than regularly with decent crosses, assists and goals anyway. 

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I think thats extremely harsh Alex. In the promotion year he was by far our best player in my view and no defence could get near him. last season, he deservedly won player of the year, he looked ourr biggest threat for most of the season and had little service, (holt, jonson out of position, wantaway francis). This year he has struggled on the whole but how many players can we say have been good bar the defence where doherty, drury and even fleming have been consistent. Safri, is the only 1, Mcveigh is in form now, ashton like hucks has had poor service and our other forwards and midfielders are crap.

Huckerby is a dangerous player in this league, if the manager plays him right and he gets service.

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I can see the point - he certainly doesn''t seem to have been effective this season as he was in the Championship winning side, but his form was pretty exceptional at times that season (eg Cardiff, his ''last'' game, on loan(?)).  We do seem to fall into the trap of having him as our main (only?) outlet, and need to learn to be more cute - eg if he has drawn 2-3 defenders, as is often the case, surely this creates space for someone - maybe he should learn to play the ball earlier at times?

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[quote user="Paul Rankin"]creates the space for who??  a clogger??[/quote]

 

Well, given that we are talking about drawing defenders out of position, the "clogger" who you mention would most likely be one of Ashton/McVeigh/Leon or possibly Thorne, or maybe Safri coming from midfield - not sure which of these you mean as being a clogger?

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Why when anybody questions the current performance etc of anybody at the club are the past achievements the only defence offered?

Nothing or nobody is great forever. Ruts are made by treading the same old path

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5 Huck - er - b ees

4 Huckerbys

3 Huckerbys

2 Huckerbys

and a daaaarren Huuuuuckerbeeeeeeeeeee

As someone said, we are short on creaivity and hucks is the most creative. Safri and ashton are great but not that creative. Mcveigh tries to be but a huckerbyless norwich would be a disaster.

Hold your head in shame Alex. 

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"Sort the midfield - how many has he brought so far?? I would chuck the lot of them bar Safri and well one from three and get koumas in and play rossi Jarvis and Spillane as cover"

Couldn''t agree more, I have been pushing for Koumas all season. I have said many times on here that even though he was at Cardiff, WBA were bound to have a clause in their agreement saying that if a club came in with the right money they could sell him. I would like to add Koumas plus Halford from Colchester and a young wide right midfielder. We would then not need Robinson and our back-ups would be Etuhu, Hughes (as they have both already signed) and the youngsters.

Mark .Y.

 

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Players who can hoof a aimless ball in the box, that

is magnetically attracted to either the waiting keeper, a defenders head, or

the stand behind are 10 a pennny. watching an on fire hucks is worth my

season ticket, he''s that good.
hucks   =   creativity, skill, goal creation, ball craft, finishing, defenders nightmare, city''s dream.  (ok he can''t head, and not brill at tackling, but he loves this club)alex, agree not upto 100% until nov, looked a yard short of pace, but now he''s terrorising defences and working well with wly & deano.  Why else do team''s put 2 players on him? It''s not because he''s rubbish.  against matthew everington saturday, why didn''t we have 2 on him, plus marking their other players up?  Hammers had a laugh at our expense down the left wing saturday.Huck''s is a one off and our best winger at the club since eadie and I''d say better.  hoofer or hucks - no contest.

  

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He''s lost a bit of pace, but he''s still got it imo. Can someone look up

the stats for assists because i can''t find them anywhere. I remember

seeing them last year and thinking he hadn''t scored as many as i had

hoped but he had ceated a staggering percentage of our goals scored.

Something like 60% or more. The same applies this year i''m sure.

But i don''t think this is a good thing as it puts too much pressure and

too much reliance on him. Look at the distribution of the players on

the pitch the next time you see a game. All on the left. Players tend

to play around him and the dirth of quality on the right keeps people

away fom that side of the pitch. Not surprisingly as a result, the vast

majority of our goals come through him.

V Southamton, Hux won the free kick that saf put just wide, Hux won the

corner that safri took for the equaliser, Hux won the free kick that

Ashton headed in, and i can''t remember how the corner for the third

goal was won!

So yes, as someone has already said, get in a quality right winger and

full back and balance the team out, take the pressure off Hux and give

him some more space. Fingers crossed for the rest of the month!

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" Mad Dan ... Hucks did land a " fat " contract , why ? because he`s earned it ! the other players may not like it [ jealousy ? ] but its up to THEM to show what they`re made of , not stand off whenever Hucks gets the ball !! because this smacks of pure envy ....... "

Conveniently missing the point there Sheded. It is whether he is still worth that fat contract - the suggestion being that he did what he did to get it but as others have pointed out may well have lost that impetus now he has the contract.

As to his claims of '' pure envy'' that''s nonsense. Far too often Huckerby runs with the ball as some small dog would across the beach with a ball on the end it''s nose.

His limitations were easily exposed in the Premiership, they well be in here pretty soon.

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he was awesome two seasons ago and still good last season. I think its just that he is past his peak and too predictable now. + when he first came here people underestimated Norwich and Huckerby

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[quote user="MadDan"]" Mad Dan ... Hucks did land a " fat " contract , why ? because he`s earned it ! the other players may not like it [ jealousy ? ] but its up to THEM to show what they`re made of , not stand off whenever Hucks gets the ball !! because this smacks of pure envy ....... " Conveniently missing the point there Sheded. It is whether he is still worth that fat contract - the suggestion being that he did what he did to get it but as others have pointed out may well have lost that impetus now he has the contract. As to his claims of '' pure envy'' that''s nonsense. Far too often Huckerby runs with the ball as some small dog would across the beach with a ball on the end it''s nose. His limitations were easily exposed in the Premiership, they well be in here pretty soon.[/quote]

well as he was player of the season for us it doesnt say much for the rest of the squads limitations in the premiership.

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I agree with LGT, he is an exciting player and worth the cost of my season ticket. Imagine us trying to get through a season without him in the team That would be a disaster! Admittedly we could try getting the ball out to the players who are left free by the double or triple marking of him. I think he is more important to us (not in value because of age) than Ashton, any day of the week. 

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[quote user="MadDan"]" Mad Dan ... Hucks did land a " fat " contract , why ? because he`s earned it ! the other players may not like it [ jealousy ? ] but its up to THEM to show what they`re made of , not stand off whenever Hucks gets the ball !! because this smacks of pure envy ....... " Conveniently missing the point there Sheded. It is whether he is still worth that fat contract - the suggestion being that he did what he did to get it but as others have pointed out may well have lost that impetus now he has the contract. As to his claims of '' pure envy'' that''s nonsense. Far too often Huckerby runs with the ball as some small dog would across the beach with a ball on the end it''s nose. His limitations were easily exposed in the Premiership, they well be in here pretty soon.[/quote]

Your also conveniently  missing  what the majority of other posters are saying MadDan !    whether you can stomach it or not , without Hucks  we would never have reached prem status !   in which , I believe He won player of the year !!   ......  Hucks can hold his own in the prem  easily ,  but the team around him  last season ,couldn`t !    so , basically , its not up to Hucks   to  prove anything  , he`s already done that, in spades !     its up to the rest of the team to get up to speed , this is manifestly obvious  .... take the recent  McVeigh   resurrection  , and our  five wins on a trot  while  he suddenly decided to play well , he just could NOT have done this without Hucks  ... its as simple as that .

Thats a strange analogy !   the dog running with the ball on the end of its nose ....   you DO realise the skill that that takes ?     maybe your just on a wind up ?   [S]

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Despite my post being slightly controversial, I am a Huckerby fan and would be very sorry to see him leave because on his day he can turn a game and terrorise defences. I also have huge respect for the way he signed for us and how committed to the club he is! I was merely posting a suggestion as to why he might not be performing to the same standard that he did in our promotion season!

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I''ve only read the first few posts of this thread so apologies if its already been mentioned. Robbo I think hit the nail on the head when he said Hucks works best when we have a decent right winger. Remember back to the Promotion season, we had Harper albeit for short period of time, Hendo put some good performances in down the right and Cooper played there consistently well for the last couple of months. Last season we were weaker down that side. Jonson wasn''t a winger and shouldn''t have been bought for that role considering he''s a striker. Bentley when he played we saw the best of Hucks. Is this a coinsidence or is there really something in it... well of course theres something in it. We''ve been so one sided this season its untrue. Sure Hucks is going to cause problems in this league but if you don''t have someone doing the same on the right the opposition have it easy as all they have to do is keep our left wing quiet and you stop us.

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