So, Huck best on the left... I mean up front, er no, on the left

[a1canary 0]

Some people feel quite strongly about this, Zipper springs to mind, but if we learnt one thing last night it''s that in the right circumstances and in the right mood, he''d be devastating if you put keepers gloves on him and stuck him between the posts!But one of the reasons he has been less effective, particularly last season and in the prem, is because NW always always played him on the left where he became just too predictable. Opposing managers soon worked him out. So long as the team briefing before playing us went something like this:"For god''s sake don''t let him cut in from the left wing. And stick to him when Drury pops up those aimless lobs along the touchline as he invariably will. That way the attacking threat is nulified and we''ve got ourselves a nice open right wing to break down when he doesn''t cover the left back."Looking at it this way, there seems to be no argument. Play him upfront, relieve him of his defensive duties and let him concentrate on attack.But then came last night. An hour in he switches to the left against an opposition who aren''t used to playing against him and who are perhaps beginning to tire, and he gets in the kind of mood where he decides he''s going to win this game single handedly, and hey presto, the legend is reborn - on the left!The fact is, a change is as good as a rest and, more importantly, it gives the opposition something else to think about. With players like Lappin, Fozzy, Brown, Martin, Saf and Croft/Chadwick to share some of the attacking responsibility around, there''s suddenly a great deal for the opposition to think about, whether hucks is left or right. But what i''m wondering is, with a fit earnie in the side, where do you...  oh dear, we''re back to square one!

[Evil Monkey 52]

It''s a conundrum, for sure... I''ve always thought of Hucks as a "wing foward" in that he''s not an out-and-out striker, thanks to his tendency to drift to the wings to pick up the ball and run, but he''s also not a classic left midfielder because his attacking thread is too potent to waste on tracking back.  Although Hucks was devastating for most of our promotion season, it was when he was put onto the left of an attacking three, with Svensson and McKenzie, that things really began to take shape... even though we weren''t as defensively solid as with a 4-4-2, we had enough fire power to win games anyway... remember Burnley away? 3-2 down at the break, but was never in any doubt we would win! The same thing started to work early season with Hucks, Earnie and Croft, but things just went sour... would be interesting to see what this would be like with Martin through the middle...

[Mook 0]

Being from the Zipper and Saint school of thought - always start him up front, then if a change needs to be made, move him on to the wing.

He is always effective upfront, and usually effective on the wing. When the opposition''s legs start to tire, shift him over and ruin their right back''s day!

[hogesar 10,762]

The decision on this could be the most important of this season. Lets look at the facts:

He''s the most attacking minded midfielder/striker we have

HE is not capable of defending well.

Self explanatory? No.

It all depends who''s available.

Do we put lappin as left midfield and shove him upfront?

Do we drop drury, put lappin lb, let hux play lm.

And when earny comes back?

You cant have huckerby up front with earny imho. Think - Earny needs someone to knock it down to him - and face it - hux isnt the best header of the ball!

Well - The managers choice, should be an interesting one.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

He is on form and scoring goals so he can be accomodated in either position.

Personally, I like to see him up front and would like to see this work with Lappin on the left in front of Drury.

Huckerby is an enigma, but on his day fantastically exciting and effective.

[First Jedi 0]

I think you are on to something - why do we need to pick one way or the other? Depending on the opposition, depending on the available squad, depending how the match it going, Huckerby can be swapped, moved about and still be absolutely amazing. Making a single choice and sticking to it is a bad thing, because then he is predictable and the opposition can cater for it before the game starts - if they haven''t a clue where he is gonna play, from one minute to the next, we''re onto a winner!!

[a1canary 0]

[quote user="Rudolph Hucker"]

Huckerby is an enigma, but on his day fantastically exciting and effective.

[/quote]Absolutely right Rudolph. I think if we remove our yellow and green specs and have a transfusion to replace our yellow and green blood cells, we have to accept he''s in the autumn of his career.The future has to be lappin left, croft/chadwick right and earnie and brown up front with Hucks coming off the bench to terrorise tired defenses. But that time is not now.Whatever happens, his position in yellow and green folklore is assured.