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The Tom is Dead. Long live the Tom.

2 min read
by The Fighting Cock
It is fair to say ever since Mousa Dembele’s recurring hip injury came to the surface Spurs have not been the same team. Our summer signing from Fulham appeared to be proving to the White Hart Lane faithful that he could indeed replace Luka Modric in our side, and be just as effective if not […]

It is fair to say ever since Mousa Dembele’s recurring hip injury came to the surface Spurs have not been the same team. Our summer signing from Fulham appeared to be proving to the White Hart Lane faithful that he could indeed replace Luka Modric in our side, and be just as effective if not more. Dembele is very athletic, a fantastic passer of the ball, and a decent finisher as a his goal against Norwich proved. Fast Forward to now, and we have just lost our last 4 out of 5 Premier League matches – and our win was perhaps a little fortunate against a spirited Southampton side. One of the main reasons I am convinced we have been playing so poorly is a lack of Dembele in cm, but also rather harshly the presence of a certain Tom Huddlestone in our side.

I don’t like to criticise Spurs players (I am a supporter and recognise most of the time these guys are giving their all for the cause) but Huddlestone has been simply shocking. He’s clearly unfit (why!?), doesn’t have the ability to tackle, his previous asset of passing appears to have gotten far worse than better, and his corners are shocking (please get it past the first man!). Sure he set up Caulker’s goal against City, and played relatively well against Maribor at the Lane, but in the past this would be the very least of Spurs fans expectations. To top it off aswell, at the beginning of the season he tweeted a dig at AVB – he has since denied it, but I no longer follow him nonetheless.

The fact is he has not progressed from being a promising youngster, and I’m sorry but I don’t want this player in the Spurs line up. the fact he was in the England squad the other day defies belief but then again what can you expect if JonJo Shelvey also is in the squad. However, there is now another Tom at White Hart Lane that I strongly believe deserves to be in the side more than the “Hudd”.

Tommy Carroll is in the new breed of tidy,technical midfielders that hardly ever give the ball away. The sort of player that Swansea seemed to have produced in Joe Allen, of course now at Liverpool, and Leon Britton. He came on at the Emirates on Saturday, and immediately looked so much more assured, and plain better than Huddlestone had the entire match. Carroll also ran the show against Maribor which is very encouraging at the age of 20.

He may not be at the level of the arsehole that is Jack Wilshere (seriously I want to slap that guy in the face) but he looks like he could progress even further with an extended stay in the first team. It appears Dembele’s injury is on the mend, and he may even feature in the Lazio game, but if his injury does become an issue again during the season I want to see Carroll be given the nod over Huddlestone. Why persist with a player whose career is plateauing when we have a potential star in the making?!

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15 Comments

  1. Belzebub
    21/11/2012 @ 5:51 pm

    ” he tweeted a dig at AVB – he has since denied it, but I no longer follow him nonetheless.” Is where I stopped reading, sorry.

  2. pg
    21/11/2012 @ 5:53 pm

    I couldn’t agree more. Saturday’s game was my first of the season and Huddlestone offered nothing. He’s cumbersome and slow and doesn’t offer any creativity at all.

    January can’t come quick enough so we can get him as far away from the first team as possible –
    hopefully Stoke.

    It’s good for Carroll to get some experience and should hopefully get better but he’s very lightweight at the moment. I’m not actually a fan of Joe Allen as I don’t really think he does anything apart from pass it sideways.

    Wilshere is a little prick and is challenging Nasri for my least favourite PL player!

  3. rob
    21/11/2012 @ 5:54 pm

    Big Tom has been out for nearly 2 years. To expect him to be even close to his best is asinine. He would normally have been used sparingly e.g in cups and Europe to allow him to try and regain his fitness and rhythm, but injuries have prevented this. You say you don’t like to criticise our players then go on to do exactly that. You can’t have really been watching if you are criticising his passing which is better than any other Spurs players. He was never a corner taker before and is obviously taking them due to a lack of takers so to moan about that continues the asinine thread running throughout this “article”. Bale’s corners have been poor, all last season either VdV, Modric, Bale or whoever was taking them were mostly shocking too. Little Tom looks a prospect but for now that is all he is.

  4. Dust
    21/11/2012 @ 6:22 pm

    Completely agree, I have been saying the same thing anout TH, why do you think we wanted rid of him? TC is a great player in the making, really great vision, when he gets the pace of first team football I think he will become an asset. Huddlestone needs to go on loan to mill wall or something.

    Managing Dembele’s return to limit re injury would be key. I hope Dembele gets rested until the west ham game, give TC the 90 @ Lazio, then give him 50 against west ham and then bring dembele back for the remainder. Just in time for the Liverpool game, on wednesday, he will play for 70 the TC should finish the game.

    This will prolly be greated with huh? what! u r crazy! but, I would also give Soulymane Coulibaly a run out against Lazio, at least 25 mins anyway, he is young but he is a man child, more powerful than defoe, as fast as sterling, very clinical, if sterling gets 1st team action, why not Souly? He really is that good. Our next gen boy beat Barca next gen at Barca quite convincingly, that isn’t easy!

    • JohnnyB
      21/11/2012 @ 7:31 pm

      “Why do you think we wanted rid of him”? We didn’t. We wanted to send him on loan to get his fitness up do he’d be available for next season when AVB will try to bring about the 4-3-3. And if we were to send him on loan why to Millwall (one word)? Oh, you’re just being silly….some more.

      Hudd could be a vital player in a 4-3-3 but he’ll always struggle in a 2 man mid unless partnered with someone of Modric’s quality. Currently he’s been playing very deep, clearly under instruction, so is it fair to critisise him as not being up to expectation when he’s playing a different role. That is to say, if his role is not as before, why do we expect him to do what he used to?

      • dust
        22/11/2012 @ 4:31 am

        LOL Damn iPhone auto correct, Yes it is Millwall one word. As for Huddlestone, I have to disagree, the loan deal would have been to sell him. His fitness isn’t/wasn’t the issue, if it was AVB wouldn’t have played him. He has become a huge liability, he was never fast, and always a clumsy tackler. I don’t think he would flourish at all in a modern 4-3-3 because of his lack of pace, ability to track back, & other defensive frailties. I think he would be a good fit at Stoke, like other ex Spurs Pallacios, Etherington and Crouch, away from the Spurs starting 11. I say Millwall because I think he would be fine in the Championship.

  5. Vic
    21/11/2012 @ 6:27 pm

    Agree with all that.
    Huddlestone has never developed into the talent we all believed and hoped he would. I truly believe we’ve effectively been playing with 10 men when he’s in the side, OK 10 and a half.
    I think all Spurs fans have been hugely impressed with Carroll. Even last season I thought he was the pick of the bunch of our promising youngsters and certainly has now transcended Townsend and
    Livermore.

  6. klinsmannfan
    21/11/2012 @ 6:30 pm

    Much prefer Carroll to Huddlestone; the latter seems so slow and unable to tackle.

  7. Hadrian
    21/11/2012 @ 6:36 pm

    Nice one joe.

  8. koko61
    21/11/2012 @ 7:41 pm

    Love to see young Carroll to play in the hole just behind Defoe. He can feed killer through balls to him, like he did against Maribor. Even with Dembele back and TH dropped, the kid can play better than the likes of Dempsey.
    COY (hopefully) MIGHTY SPURS.

  9. Darrenjackson75
    21/11/2012 @ 8:08 pm

    I was just as annoyed with hudd as i was with ade on Saturday by the end of the game. He’s looked slow and out of his depth this season, but has tried. On Saturday he was a passenger, when ever he got the ball he got rid of it as quickly as he could (not intelligent quick passing). For the forth goal he made a lazy pass on the edge of the 18 without even looking around to see where the ball was going. That put Lennon in trouble and he gave away a foul, the resulting free kick led to the goal. If players are filling a gap caused by injuries and aren’t of the same calibre or fit I won’t criticise if they put a shift. Hudd on Saturday looked disinterested and lazy.

  10. adam
    21/11/2012 @ 9:16 pm

    100% agree i was at the lane against Maribor and he was a class young player was second best player on the pitch that day after Jermaine Defoe of course

  11. lee
    22/11/2012 @ 4:57 am

    totally agree that Dembele has been a big loss in the team. Been really impressed with him since he came to us.
    I also agree that Tom Carroll looks like he is going to be a very good player. Enjoyed his performance against Maribor and when he came on against the scum down the road he looked very bright.
    Dont totally agree about Hudd from what I see his passing ability looks very good, he aims to get the ball forward quickly and that is important with Defoe being up front on his own.
    I do accept that he is not as mobile as you would want and he looks very slow. But to be fair he has been out a long time.
    Once Dembele is back I think he will struggle to get back in the team and if Carroll improves game after game he could well overtake in the pecking order.
    AVB seems to be looking to blood more of the youngsters which is not such a bad thing provided they are of the right quality.
    Caluker being a good case in point. Not sure if Naughton and Townsend are at that level to be honest but its up to them to take their chances.

  12. dannyboy
    22/11/2012 @ 4:03 pm

    God – please can Tottenham Hotspur go 90 minutes without conceding?? How can we ever hope to contend -or win a game even , if we cant stay tight and fight the opposition to win the rightto play our football & at least have a chance of winning. It seems to me as soon as the opposition decides to have a go we fold. The reason that Scott Parker is so badly missed is not only for the technical reasons in the middle of the park but more importantly for his character & leadership .The lack of a real leader on the pitch has been abig part of spurs problems ever since Mabbut retired. Even spurs critics admit they have a fine bunch of talented players. but when the going gets tough we need at least one man with balls and a clear head! I dont know if their are stats on which premier team shoots itself in the foot most often- I bet spurs would be top of that!! The right attitude is so important- eg Adebayor- Wonderful talented centre forward- doesnt do much good in dressing room!! Hurry back Scot . and Kabul.

  13. john
    23/11/2012 @ 3:42 am

    Caroll proved versus Lazio he is nowhere near ready. Other than the pass that put through Bale for the goal that wasn’t, all he did was give it away. Was crap in possession all he did was get the ball of the defence then pass it back from whence it came. Totally pointless and on more than one occasion the pass back put the defender under unnecessary pressure leading to Lazio breaking through on goal. Totally ineffective, poor passing, easily dispossessed, weak in the tackle. He is miles away from prime time, so much for his increased mobility. What is the point of being mobile when you are unable to do anything when you get there?

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