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The Huckerby Question?

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I know this has been discussed before but not for some time - are the problems we are having around the midfield as a result of trying to shoehorn Hux in first?

At the moment he does not seem to be providing much in the way of genuine midfield play (probably not surprising as he is not a genuine midfield player) which is therefore not helping the team. Normally this might be accepted if he was providing service to the strikers and looking an attacking force himself. However, he appears to be becoming less and less effective as an attacking midfielder and with no similar player wide right it leaves the central two (whichever combination you pick) very exposed.

I would like to see McVeigh as the left sided midfielder (his best season goals-wise was mainly from this position remember) and Louis-Jean (when eventually fit) on the right.

Darren would probably not agree!

Discuss.

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I wouldn''t agree either. I''d blame it on the shoddy signings in

Midfield. We looked semi-solid with Youssef in there, but Hughes....oh

my dear lord....what actually is he? Surely he''s a plumber by trade or

something, not a footballer!? I think the problem lies in just not

having the quality there, for god''s sake, Etuhu, Jarrett and

Hughes....to be fair, you wouldn''t win the third division with those in

midfield. I think the balance just isn''t there at present, personally,

i''d favour Huckerby, Safri, Rehman, McVeigh. With those three you have

two wingers, on the left you have ridiculous flair and pace, on the

right, McVeigh defo has the footballing brain and attacking ability,

Safri....well, need I say anything? That bloke is worth three players

alone, and Rehman, by the sounds of it, hopefully is pretty solid. That

leaves you with Earnshaw and Johansson up front

However, I would agree that Huckerby is pretty lazy when it comes to

defensive duties. I think it has to be remembered though that he has

been played as a striker for most of his career, not a winger.

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The problem will not go away.The inclusion of Hux does rather determine the shape of the team. If you play him as a striker, then when he wanders to the left the other striker is left isolated and without support. If you play him as a wide left player, then the midfield is unbalanced and the left fullback has little cover. We have "solved" this problem by playing 4-3-3, but this tends to leave us narrow in the midfield, with little cover for either fullback and worst of all overrrun by sheer numbers, as our present midfielders struggle to cope.Solutions:1) Play 4-3-3, knowing that if he is on form Hux will create scoring opportunities, but we shall probably concede goals. This will succeed, as it it did in the promotion season because we had a rock-like defence.2) Play 4-4-2, with Hux wide left,which has a similar result.3) Heresy! Drop Hux when we need to be tighter in defence.I have to admit that while I am a great admirer of Hux, his low-grade infection has reduced his potency in attack, and unless he is really at his best he does cause problems for us.

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well Breaker , it is beyond me why we disbanded our very succesful championship winning formation of having

 

 

                         GK

LB        CB            CB         RB

             CM           CM       RM

Huckerby

              CF           CF  

In the good old days when we had Holt and Francis in the middle we had enough energy and commitment in the engine room to cover for Huckerby bombing forward , Hughes is a "here, there, everywhere" sort of player but lacks the quality of his predecessors . I think that if I was Norwich manager I would have 3 at the back ,a flat four in midfield , two strikers and just give Huckerby a liscense to rampage over the pitch .

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[quote user="breaker"]I know this has been discussed before but not for some time - are the problems we are having around the midfield as a result of trying to shoehorn Hux in first? At the moment he does not seem to be providing much in the way of genuine midfield play (probably not surprising as he is not a genuine midfield player) which is therefore not helping the team. Normally this might be accepted if he was providing service to the strikers and looking an attacking force himself. However, he appears to be becoming less and less effective as an attacking midfielder and with no similar player wide right it leaves the central two (whichever combination you pick) very exposed. I would like to see McVeigh as the left sided midfielder (his best season goals-wise was mainly from this position remember) and Louis-Jean (when eventually fit) on the right. Darren would probably not agree! Discuss.[/quote]

Sacrilage!

Play him behind the front two in a free role, surely with all the defensive midfielders worthy has bought this has to be his plan.

That or not play him and remove our most significant attacking threat

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[quote user="Safri15"]I wouldn''t agree either. I''d blame it on the shoddy signings in Midfield. We looked semi-solid with Youssef in there, but Hughes....oh my dear lord....what actually is he? Surely he''s a plumber by trade or something, not a footballer!? I think the problem lies in just not having the quality there, for god''s sake, Etuhu, Jarrett and Hughes....to be fair, you wouldn''t win the third division with those in midfield. I think the balance just isn''t there at present, personally, i''d favour Huckerby, Safri, Rehman, McVeigh. With those three you have two wingers, on the left you have ridiculous flair and pace, on the right, McVeigh defo has the footballing brain and attacking ability, Safri....well, need I say anything? That bloke is worth three players alone, and Rehman, by the sounds of it, hopefully is pretty solid. That leaves you with Earnshaw and Johansson up front

However, I would agree that Huckerby is pretty lazy when it comes to defensive duties. I think it has to be remembered though that he has been played as a striker for most of his career, not a winger.

[/quote]

I agree mate.  A fully fit drury can handle himself with the 3 man midfield, Colin and Charlton really struggle without the assistance

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Love the name misery!   The reason why we have moved away from the champs system is that all the managers know that there will be acres of space behind hux and so attack that side very hard, stretching the rest of the midfield and defence, leaving holes left right and centre.   This impact is lower when Safri is playing who seems expert at covering that area defensively.

A proper 4-4-2 needs real wide midfielders - the club simply does not have them - hux is a converted striker and wlys talents are also attacking play, being a striker, so neither do the defensive part well on the left and we all know that wide right has been a problem area for 4/5 years only ever partially solved with jonson and cooper/harper.

So that riles 442 out.   433 we have tried this year but only successful when the midfield 3 were capable players;  with safri, robinson & 1 or perhaps it will be successful again with Johansson, Earnie & Hux up front?  However that would seem to limit the effectiveness of earnie.  With an over stocked central midfield pool why not go 5 across the middle with WLY the man sitting centrally ahead of a deep lying 4 (protecting the back line) and linking a pacy front two.   With a back 3 would this work?

            Doc          Shacks        Rehman

Hughes                                                     Drury

                   Robinson           Safri      

 

 

                                  WLY

                   Johannson         Earnie

 

Alternatively we may as well go the whole hog and go with the current tactics and go 5-1-0-4

Colin       Doc       Rehman    Shacks    Drury

                             Safri      

                 Johansson   Earnie   WLY     Hux                         

 

Either the 4 flair players of Hux.WLY,Johannson and Earnie are unlikely to start the game together.

 

    

                                    

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I actually believe that Hucks should be rested   for a while  !   he`s been the ever present  king pin  of the team  ever since  he came here , and  this virus  he has is symptomatic    of   a lowering of his immune system  ?    I reckon   Nigel should   send him , and his family ,  on a fortnights holiday  in some tropical   spot  .....    with orders to forget football  , and just relax ,  its what `ole bighead  would do !   fact is .....  he often took the whole TEAM out  to some hot spot  , and they all got p*ssed up  together !   now that is what I call bonding  , LOL

 

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I agree Sheded, the old style team bonding seems to have all but disappeared but there are times when nothing else will do. It would probably do Hucks good to have a rest (after beating Ipswich naturally!).

I''m glad there has been good discussion on this post rather than lots of pro/anti-Hucks rants and I have not been slaughtered too much!

I suppose the real answer is that a confident, winning team will play well whatever the system or players used as Reading proved on Tuesday night.

I still think Huckerby is a jewel in the squad and that there is nothing more exciting than seeing him take on defenders at full tilt - it''s just that he ain''t really done that for a while.

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