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Huckerby is no left midfielder!!

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After watching on Saturday, i have come to the conclusion Huckerby should be playing either upfront or just off the front 2. Time and time again Palace hit to to our left and we struggled to cope. If he is gloing to play there he needs to run back rather than walking back.

 This may explain why Drury hits long balls and looks very exposed at times.

Thoughts?

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Had written an essay on this last night, then decided not to post it for some reason.

YES - HE HAS TO PLAY UP FRONT where he belongs. It will help him, the team, the shape and the tactics.

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Bearing in mind how Leon played on Saturday and the standard of Hux''s crosses its definitely worth a try. Does that mean WLY returning on the left?

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Tumbleweed, why wouldn''t you put Brennan in on the left side of midfield. It provides Drury with much needed defensive cover. Plus Brennan appears to be able to knock in a decent cross.

...

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huckerby and ashton up front, with mcveigh on the left has to
be worth an option just to freshen things up.

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Does anyone else think that Hucks has lost a bit of his pace? Or is it just that he''s two years older since he was last tearing through Div 1 defences?

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[quote]After watching on Saturday, i have come to the conclusion Huckerby should be playing either upfront or just off the front 2. Time and time again Palace hit to to our left and we struggled to cope. If ...[/quote]

As I`ve said before , many times !    ...  most clubs have sussed out the  left side of our team , and  worked out what to do about Hucks ... 

To play Hucks deep on the left wing , and expect him to act as a defender  as well , is just  a bit stupid !    his ability to  get through a defence means we Have to  place him where he can do the most damage , and thats  as a centre forward !!    

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Somewhere in a recent post I also advocated Hucks up front with Deano, he had a great relationship with Iwan and that could be easily replicated. In the same post I said that Brennan should be the man to fill the left hand midfield role, he is a genuine midfielder and would give far greater balance to the team.  I thought that when I made that post and I still think it

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I agree he isn''t a natural left midfielder, for the defensive reasons AND the fact he gets isolated, because he gets surrounded by opposition players and often has no support. But there are issues with moving him up front...

1. He isn''t a natural striker either. He misses way too many chances, he just isn''t a natural goal scorer. As Strachan said, "he is the scorer of great goals, not a great goal scorer".

2. He is our main route from defense to attack. I don''t see WLY or Brennan being as effective.

3. If he isn''t a natural striker or left midfielder, we need to give him a free role between midfield and attack. Perhaps a 4-2-3-1 formation such as...

--------------------Greeno------------------

Colin/MLJ-----Flem/Doc-----Shacks-----Drury

------------Hughes-------Safri--------------

----Marney---------JJ-----------Hucks------

-------------------Deano-------------------

(you could try Hucks in the middle and WLY/Brennan on the left, but Hucks would drift left anyway...)

4. This would also mean dropping Leon, who is a crowd favourite. How would the ''moaners'' react if Worthy dropped Leon?

5. Changing the formation right now could mean it takes time to settle in, and I don''t think the ''moaners'' have the patience for that especially right now...

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Like the 4-2-3-1 putney - I have suggested it before but even that relies on some one from the 3 defending left when our opponents attack.  I think it suits us and should be given a go but accept it is likely to happen.

I have said for months that Hux is a striker however Worthy likes him on the left.  Playing hux as a striker means he does go to the left which most see as a bad thing.  I dont see many gooner fans moaning about Henry doing the same thing.  The difference is that Wenger has worked out how to accomodate henrys playing style within the squad - and that is the crucial difference Worthy has still not figured out how to handle hux in the squad.

Play him as a striker in a 4-4-2 and there is a huge gap between hux and Deano..  Worthy has to figure out how to get the best out of both players when partnered (a francis type midfielder to support Deano for example - Deano works best with a player close by who he can bounce the ball off/to to create openings - one of the reasons he works so well with Leon and Darren Bent) and how we get players in the bo when hux goes wide.  Playing hux up front also gives city a wider ranging threat as while he prefers the left he does also go right, making it far harder for opponents to man or double mark him across the width of the pitch.

If worthy continues to play hux on the left in a midfield role he has to find a way to get midfield support for the left back and enabling the midfield 3 to fend off the opponents 4 or 5 midfielders - an unequal battle that gets worse when safri goes left to support drury as it leaves marney and hughes to cover three quarters of the pitch  and 4 players.

My preference remains to use hux as a striker  (playing him defensively is a waste of his league winning talents even if there is a yard less pace this season) and to develop our play by getting good support from a real midfield 4.  This way we would get support to the defence by having a real 4 man shield and also enable high energy support when we aare attacking.  That is the value of having high energy players, so they can actually support the attackers when we go forward yet also shield the defence and win the ball back when defending.  At the moment our high energy players simply run around. 

Either way until the how to use hux problem gets solved other managers will continue to exploit the gaps left behind.

OTBC     

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Hucks destroys players on the left - but works much better as a second striker - that way went he drifts across, the right side of the opposition have to deal with him, as well as out left midlfielder- and perhaps an advancing left back.

I''ve no doubt the reason Drury struggled at times last season was because of a lack of cover in front of him - that''s not a criticisim of Huckerby... it''s just his game. He''s an attacking player...

If only Ashton or Leon could teach him how to jump for headers though!

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ZLF - I think I nicked the formation from you, I was talking about 4-1-3-2 but think yours is better. Must try it on Football Manager...

Not finding how best to use Hucks is a problem and my main criticism of Worthy, but I guess it is easier for Wenger with the quality he has. Ljungberg on the Right anyone? If only Worthy could be more adventurous with his formations and go 4-2-3-1.

I think Worthy sticks with the 4-4-2 because he has faith in Drury, he sees Hucks as our main route from defense to attack, and he feels Leon is worth more goals than Hucks up front (I would agree, despite not being a big Leon fan). Hucks is trying to improve his defending, but I agree we should not want this from Hucks, its a waste of his forward running. Despite the current formation relying too much on Hucks and leaving gaps on the left, I prefer it to Hucks up front (where will the service come from?)

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In a sense this is academic. IF the midfield were good enough, and they could rely on a good defence, then we could play 4-3-3, as several of the premiership teams do.

To the objection "Yes, but they have better midfields than we have", it must be pointed out that they are facing better attackers than we are.

The only way to accommodate Hux is to play him in the front three. The quandry is that he is not an out and out striker, and we really need Ashton plus one other.

We have been risking being overrun every time we layed 4-3-3, and the solution is to find quality in midfield and defence. This is why sveral of us have been calling for another CM, to replace Francis, and another CD, to replace slow and aged players. We seem to have an effective RB in Colin, and Drury can generally cope at our present level. We have Shackle, but we need another CD. The main problem is the midfield - they do not play as a unit, with effective passing, they do not collectively impose themselves on the game, and sometimes they seem absent.

Finally we have tended to regard the wide right player as an old fashioned right winger. Clearly this is a luxury, and he must be defensive as well. Otherwise our midfield is effectively two-man, and we are playing 4-2-4.

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We have all suggested many different formations, several of which I think would work. But Worthy just wont move from 4-4-2 will he?! I cant ever remember a time when we have had anything different. I still think a 4-3-2-1 formation A la Chelsea would be awesome at this level, but we dont have the nerve to try it.

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To be fair we played 4-3-3 a lot in 2003/2004, and we looked very good playing it. The difference then was, we had a very solid defence and Holt was playing the holding role very effectively. I don''t think right now our defence would cope well with this, but might when settled.

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[quote]To be fair we played 4-3-3 a lot in 2003/2004, and we looked very good playing it. The difference then was, we had a very solid defence and Holt was playing the holding role very effectively. I don''t ...[/quote]

I know what you mean but I still consider that to have been a 4-4-2 with hucks on the left. When we said we played three strikers we really mean we played two strikers up front and another one on the left wing!

But I agree thats a slight variation on the standard 4-4-2, guess thats about as adventurous as it gets!

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When I read Iwan''s autobiography I found the following section particularly interesting: Following the 4-4 draw with Rotherham in which Huckerby scored a penalty Iwan wrote:

It was a bit of a gamble putting Hucks out on the left, but he does like playing wide and cutting in so he said it wasn''t too alien for him. He told me he doesn''t want to make a career out there but he knows the team comes first! Obviously he doesn''t give you as much as someone else would defensively but when you''re as good going forward as Hucks is, when you can create that much havoc, it doesn''t matter. You''ve got to give and take. You can''t expect him to take on three or four defenders and then track all the way back!

This says to me that Huckerby doesn''t mind playing on the left but would be much happier and would consider himself to play better up front or just behind the front two. With defenders marking him so tightly and in numbers this season he doesn''t seem to have created the havoc Robbo is talking about, making his lack of defensive cover more of a problem! Perhaps it is time to change things a bit. Hucks and Deono up front with McVeigh on the left would certainly seem a good option if McVeigh could recapture some of the form of 2003/04!

I also wonder if we rely too much on Hucks. Certainly in games if nothing much is happening players seem to think -lets give the ball to Hucks and hope he can so something with it - rather than trying to do something with it themselves. That is ok sometimes but if he is being marked out of the game it isn''t going to work. Perhaps players need to think - oh Hucks has a number of defenders on him, that should open up space elsewhere on the pitch, lets try something unexpected and different! Huckerby is a quality player and is a potential matchwinner but he needs to be handled well and I think Worthy needs to try and out-think the managers who come with the plan of marking Hucks out of the game on the left!

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Just reflecting about "balance" in the team...

When we played Man City at FCR last year and Huckerby was out of the squad injured, the mancs didn''t seem to have any idea how to cope with the attacking threat (in the first half anyway). I felt that they were hoping Hucks would be out on the left so they could put three players on him and just nullify our main attacking options.

But with the ball being played down both channels, they could not read our gameplan and we exploited this with two well taken goals.

I''m not saying we should take Hucks out of the team though. But I also wouldn''t want to drop Leon to play Hucks alongside Ashton. This makes me conclude that perhaps a 3-4-1-2/3-5-2 may be better to give us width in the middle of the park and allow Hucks to play in the space just behind Ashton and Leon.

As for the rest of the team in this formation, I''ll let somebody else decide!

Regards,

Kev

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Just a point about Hucks not tracking back quickly enough. Normally he has just been on a run from deep right into the oppositions goal area so he is pretty knackered.  It is unreasonable to think that he is going to come blasting back deep in order to get a tackle in or cover that space.

Its another reason why he would be better playing as a striker and having Brennan, or a.n.other, out on the left midfield.

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Fatman Fat - I am sorry but i have to disagree. If he is supposed to be playing in midfield he SHOULD be running back. These players are fit and i am afraid after one run he should have the energy to run back. My granmother could have got back faster than Hucks did at times on Saturday!

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Interesting discussion this one. It''s a bit "can''t live with him, can''t live without him".

How about you play Hucks up front with Deano for the first 60 minutes of a game at the expense of Leon. If Hucks is tiring or City hold the lead bring Hucks off and give Leon 30 minutes to go out there and harry the hell out of the opposition back four?

In his place on the left hand side of midfield you give a game to either McVeigh, Brennan or even Charlton. Alternatively you find a quality central midfield player and play Safri on the left with Hughes in the holding role.

When he plays do you think Hucks causes the rest of the team to stop thinking about other attacking options? Does he cause them to opt for the "easy" option and simply give him the ball?

...

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Interesting idea Morph.

Since the opposition decide their tactics to combat Hux before the game, how about playing Hux with Deano sometimes and other times on the left or at other times sitting just behind Dean (who would be a lone striker)? Then the oppo would have to change their formation at the risk of total confusion or at the very least not know where he was going to pop up. It does mean sacrificing Leon as you ay but the added unpredictability might confuse the other side.

We would just have to hope that something is at least absorbed at Colney so it doesn''t just confuse our side more then them!!

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So, how many people think that Hucks should be running back and tackling like a regular midfielder - thats after he has been on a blazing run, took on 2 or 3 defenders, got hacked down or got a cross in

I don''t see it happenning coz he ain''t a midfielder - simple

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If you play in midfield of course you *should* run back and defend, its part of the job. However, Hucks is our most potent threat going forward (yes we do rely on him too much) and we need him to conserve his energy for his explosive runs. Playing him on the left we either

1. let him focus on attack, and put up with the lack of cover for Drury or

2. Get him to track back and lose his attacking edge.

Either way its a compromise. This is why left midfield isn''t his best position, or the right formation for NCFC with him on the left.

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[quote]If you play in midfield of course you *should* run back and defend, its part of the job. However, Hucks is our most potent threat going forward (yes we do rely on him too much) and we need him to cons...[/quote]

Putney, it does beg the question then as to why the club persists with playing him in that position.

Worthy seems to have the mindset that he needs two "out-and-out" strikers, playing with one isn''t an option. He may even believe that Huckerby isn''t a striker and his threat comes from playing him in a deeper role so that he can build up his run into the opposition half. Unfortunately, I don''t think Worthy has bought off on the fact that by playing Huckerby in his wide left role he sacrifices some defensive protection that he would get from a left midfield player.

Some variation of Huckerby''s role would be good from the perspective of giving the opposition something to think about. Playing up front for one game at the expense of Leon. Play him just off the two strikers for another game. Then play him wide left some other times. BUT, don''t play him wide left all the while as he becomes easier to stop. If City had two credible wide threats then double-teaming Huckerby wouldn''t be an option, but City don''t so to put two men on Huckerby isn''t such a difficult choice to make for opposition teams.

It''s no doubt that he''s a fantastic attacking threat. I just don''t think the coaching staff have been flexible enough in his use.

...

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"Hurrah!"  for Putney Canary

As some of us have been saying for a long, long, time - Hucks is not a midfielder. If you expect him to play that role you will only end up with problems. Simple really

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you are right he is def not a winger but i would like to see him play behind the two strikers.

this would give him the freedom to roam the pitch with the added bonus of not being caught offside as much!!!! 

i would also like to see marney play centre mid as i think him and safri would be a force to reckon with, this would leave us short on the wing tho so bring back bentley.

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