Return of away form coincides with departure of the Hudd

Now I know this may not be popular with fellow Yids but considering the amount of Zokora bashing that went on during our poor run this year I feel like someone has to look at the flip side and point out some truths about our change in fortune.

During our bad run Spurs were accused consistently of lacking fight, grit, passion, energy, workrate. The arrest in this slide occurred at the same time as including Teemu Tainio and Robbie Keane in the starting line up, I don't feel this is any coincidence. We all know Robbie Keane's form hasn't reached the heights of his stellar season last year, largely due to injury and the goalscoring form of Defoe Keane has found himself on the sidelines, however it is also abundantly clear that he has the much superior all round game, working hard and dropping deep to help out the midfield, something we seem to be in need of when playing away. Defoe sometimes disappears during matches when the service is not there for him and it may just be the case that he is more suited to playing at home.

Our other change, possibly the more important one, comes to the midfield unit that has not been functioning of late. Dispensing with the passing game of Huddlestone, Jol instead went with the line-up of Malbranque, Zokora, Tainio and Lennon at Fulham and then Tainio, Zokora, Jenas and Lennon at Everton. While we know Huddlestone has a lot of abilty on the ball and is good at picking a player out he has a somewhat languid gait on the pitch, his work rate isn't high enough and for someone of his physical size and power he simply doesn't get stuck in enough. Spurs have been suffering from a lack of movement in midfield leading to a consistent strategy of reverting to long balls when options are not presenting themselves and in Jol's selection for the Everton trip we fielded probably our most athletic combination in the middle giving us a tenacity and determination that was lacking while retaining no little ability on the ball. Width? Still lacking, but with current playing staff Spurs will not be able to achieve the true width we desire.

For those who feel that Zokora is not justifying his transfer fee and should be shipped out come the summer I would say this: according to Opta the guy has the highest successful pass ratio in the side, the highest tackling percentage outside the back four and plays a disciplined although somewhat unspectacular role in the side. We have five other players to attack and open teams up and utilising Zokora's powerful bursts from midfield more frequently could add another facet to his game. If there is anyone who feels that Huddlestone is ready to control a game, influence the midfield and should be in the team let me know, I would love to hear why.