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Hull City midfielder, Tom Huddlestone, missed out on a return to the England set-up despite being a vital clog in the Tigers’ midfield this season.
Football stats experts, Squawka, outlined the former Tottenham Hotspur man’s chances of an England call up.
Squawka stat man Damian Buxton says Huddlestone’s performance in the Tigers’ win over Newcastle United at St. James Park, seems to show he’s a contender, with the classy midfielder completing 87% of his passes, frequently switching the play and dictating the tempo from deep.
In defence, Huddlestone also compares well against the best of English, his 18 clearances the highest of the five players, whilst only Michael Carrick beats him on interceptions and overall defensive actions.
But Buxton says Huddlestone’s much talked about passing isn’t quite up to his rivals. He has made almost 200 fewer passes than Carrick, and has the lowest pass accuracy amongst the group (he admits the Premier League new boys’ passing ratio isn’t going to be close to the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea).
Although Huddlestone’s pass numbers are lower, Buxton calculates he has provided 12.3% of City’s successful passes, putting him above Jack Wilshere (8.4%) and Frank Lampard (8.7%) but below Steven Gerrard (13.4%) and Carrick (15.6%). Finally, the report says that Huddlestone’s 80% passing success rate is higher than the Hull team average of 77%, Gerrard, Wilshere, and Carrick also score higher than their side’s average pass success.
Buxton says on stats alone the figures don’t justify a call up. “Whilst, his fine opening to the season has put him in with a shout,” he says, “Huddlestone is still very much an outside candidate for a call up. In all likelihood Steve Bruce knows this and is probably trying to further up his confidence, and draw attention to his recent good form (and away from the goal drought induced hair do).”
Buxton was today proved right, as the England manager, Roy Hodgson decided to go with a midfield of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Tom Cleverley, Ross Barkley, Jack Wilshere, Michael Carrick, Theo Walcott, James Milner and Andros Townsend.
