Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

[nedley]

Q1a

Medicals done. Just not announced yet.

Classic.

Welcome Pierre.

 

[Timberwolf]

Those were both mainstays in their team the season before they left. PEH hasn't played since lockdown.

Dont really see why that's relevant. He was a mainstay for the 3 years pre-lockdown.

 

[dirtyh]

Medicals done. Just not announced yet, could be numerous reasons why.

fat frank is on the blower

joke!!!!

 

[Joshua]

Curious thing is you'd think the Saints fans would be far more gutted to see him leave.

I know someone will reply with the 'sour grapes' line but when Schneiderlin and Toby were linked to us most of them were absolutely distraught to lose them. In comparison few of them seem bothered about losing Hojbjerg.

But then the stats don't completely lie right? Are the Saints fans not appreciating the subtle things he does or is he just one of those players that looks good on paper but less good in person? You would hope that Jose knows this and feels he can maximise his strengths and bypass his limitations.

Remember there was a fair bit of saltiness about Toby. Recall there were some Saints fans who tried to start some ridiculous rumour that he was addicted to cocaine when it became clear he’d chosen us.

I think it is just frustration on their end that the player who started the season as their captain made it clear halfway through the campaign that he wanted a step up and was ready to go. You’ve only gotta look at the comments on his twitter posts from before he said he wanted to go and it’s all love hearts and begging for him to sign a new deal. I’m not too concerned with what Southampton fans are saying.

 

[easley91]

Probably waiting on KWP to be finalised the other way to announce at the same time?

 

[adamsky]

From an Everton supporter on reddit:

When he was rumoured to join Everton I decided to analyse his statistics & compare to the rest of the league.

Well actually at first I was mainly doing this to directly compare his defensive actions per 90 (DAP90) with Sigurdsson, who has been Everton's defensive midfielder for most of the season.

I wanted to figure out why exactly Marco Silva & Carlo Ancelotti turned last season's Europe's Top scorer from Midfield (13 goals) with the 2nd most shots/key passes combined behind Hazard (Sigurdsson) into a defensive midfielder.

Someone who had 54 G/A in the PL from 14/15-16/17 the joint most of any midfielder. (There's 1 missing assist)

So I decided to calculate all of the Premier League's CDM's average defensive actions. DAP90 consists of all ball recoveries, tackles & interceptions being combined & dividing the total based on per 90 minutes.

Højbjerg finds himself 2nd on the list. Sigurdsson, who I was initially comparing him with finds himself twice in the Top 5 when looking solely at his Top 6/10 matches at CDM. He is the most 'featured' player on this list because unlike the other players he's normally a #10 who is supposedly 'inadequate' defensively.

• 14.16 - Wilfried Ndidi
• 13.68 - Højbjerg
• 13.21 - Jorginho
• 12.93 - Gylfi Sigurdsson (Top 6 CDM apps)
• 12.75 - Fred
• 11.86 - Gylfi Sigurdsson (Top 10 CDM apps)
• 11.82 - Jefferson Lerma
• 11.76 - Declan Rice
• 11.41 - Ruben Neves
• 11.38 - Naby Keita
• 11.32 - N'golo Kante
• 10.79 - Nakamba
• 10.77 - Capoue
• 10.65 - Romeu
• 10.31 - Rodri
• 10.24 - Kovacic
• 10.13 - Joao Moutinho
• 10.06 - McTominay
• 9.94 - Henderson
• 9.82 - Gylfi Sigurdsson (First 13 CDM apps, prior to Project restart)
• 9.80 - Fabinho
• 9.75 - Lo Celso
• 9.70 - Billing
• 9.60 - Doucouré
• 9.52 - Sissoko
• 9.48 - Ndombele
• 9.37 - Torreira
• 9.31 - Gylfi Sigurdsson (All CDM apps)
• 9.17 - Douglas Luiz
• 9.11 - Pogba
• 9.05 - Ward-Prowse
• 8.91 - Milivojevic
• 8.88 - Harry Winks
• 8.70 - Choudhury
• 8.47 - Will Hughes
• 8.46 - James McCarthur
• 8.28 - Guendouzi
• 8.23 - Xhaka
• 8.21 - Gundogan
• 8.10 - Lundstram
• 7.94 - Mark Noble
• 7.88 - Aaron Mooy
• 7.84 - Tielemans
• 7.81 - Gylfi Sigurdsson (Last 6 CDM apps, after Project restart)
• 7.67 - Jonjo Shelvey
• 7.65 - Fernandinho
• 7.45 - Kouyaté
• 7.11 - Dendoncker
• 6.93 - Gini Wijnaldum
• 6.84 - Tom Davies
• 6.04 - Eric Dier

The reason why Sigurdsson appears multiple times is because I was comparing both his & Højbjerg's DAP90, and while Sigurdsson started off well at CDM he ended up being in & out of the side after project restart which diluted his DAP90 as the list shows.

You don't 'just' go from being among the Top 5.. Twice. To being in the bottom 8 in the last 6 matches.

Going from consistently delivering 12+ DAP90 to finishing in the middle of the list with 9.31

However this post was primarily about Højbjerg, and his defensive output this season has been insane. More than twice of Eric Dier's to put it into perspective.

Højbjerg won the most ball recoveries of any PL midfielder (320)
Now to put into even further perspective:

• That's 17 more than both Kante (156) and Fernandinho (147) combined this season.
• 2018/19 - Ndidi won 324 in 3298 min
• 2017/19 - Kante won 312 in 2998 min
• 2016/17 - Kante won 274 in 3139 min
• 2015/16 - Gueye won 340 in 3075 min
• 2015/16 - Kante won 325 in 3020 min

Højbjerg outperforms all of them in terms of ball recoveries per 90, because he did it with only 2749 min.

Due to his contract dispute he fell out of the team with 7 matches left off the season.

• Not in squad vs Watford & Man City
• Played 20 min vs Everton
• Bench vs Man Utd
• Played 90 min vs Brighton
• Played 13 min vs Bournemouth
• Not in squad vs Sheff Utd.

Based on his average of 10.47 ball recoveries per 90 min, Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg could've easily finished the season with 400+ ball recoveries.

Surely that must be a Premier League record? And the worst part is nobody cares about ball recoveries because most stat websites do not account for them.

They're the 'hidden' defensive contribution, when you recover the ball without it registering as a tackle or interception it's a ball recovery. This is one of the biggest reasons why Højbjerg has remained under everyone's radar.

We should hire this guy

 

[Joshua]

Medicals done. Just not announced yet, could be numerous reasons why.

Media team just wanting a full day of coverage to milk the social media engagements would be my guess as to why.

 

[Mr Pink]

Dont really see why that's relevant. He was a mainstay for the 3 years pre-lockdown.

Vast majority of them were all up in arms with the fee which speaks volumes.

I think it was common knowledge with all pundits the impact Wanyama, and particularly Alderweireld had on their team.

With PEH its just a bit more discreet. They know he's good, and probably sick of the sight of us and just bat it off.

I think most would definitely want to keep him given the choice.

 

[kmk]

Looking at Denmark’s lineups during the past couple of years, he has been mostly on the subs bench behind Eriksen, Delaney and the 34 year old Schöne.

He also wasn’t selected for Denmark’s World Cup 2018 squad.

Is he not highly rated by the Denmark coach?

 

[yankspurs]

Still time to change this, Spurs.

 

[C0YS]

Completely disagree he's exactly what mourinho needs and wants, a player to break up the play and a leader on the pitch. He most certainly has not been bought to be an option off the bench while we continue to play winks and sissoko.

I didn't say bench, I said squad. Different things.

We will see. Maybe he would do better with better players around him, and he does have room to grow.

 

[C0YS]

There is also a reason why two of the world’s top managers over the past 15 years want him. Mourinho knows exactly what is expected of him at Spurs - top 4 and a trophy or two. He isn’t going to target players who he doesn't believe to be capable of helping him achieve those aims. And since Hojbjerg has been identified as the key signing this summer, Mourinho clearly believes that he has the right qualities.

This notion that because a player isn’t being chased by all the biggest clubs, he can’t really be that good a signing.....it’s a causal fallacy. Did we face competition from the big guns for Berbatov? Or VdV? Or Modric? Or Dembele? The list goes on.....Hugo, Eriksen, Jan, Toby, Sonny, Wanyama. All outstanding buys. None wanted at the time by bigger clubs.

There are any number of reasons why a club might or might not be interested in a player. The more I have read about Hojbjerg, the more I have understood why Mourinho and Ancelotti want him. It’s not just for his combativeness. Not just for his intelligent reading of the game. Not just for his innate understanding of his defensive responsibilities and ability to execute them. Above all, I think, Jose wants him above other options at DM because of his outstanding leadership qualities. You can’t quantify that with stats but it is no less important a quality for that.

He may not be the very best DM out there. But he may very well be the best DM for us. That’s what matters.

I'm not against everything you say. But the main reason we bought him, in my opinion, is because we had the opportunity to, for me it's getting in a combative player with PL experience for a decent price. I fully believe he will help us achieve our aims but the reaction by some posters is exaggerated.

 

[C0YS]

Remember there was a fair bit of saltiness about Toby. Recall there were some Saints fans who tried to start some ridiculous rumour that he was addicted to cocaine when it became clear he’d chosen us.

I think it is just frustration on their end that the player who started the season as their captain made it clear halfway through the campaign that he wanted a step up and was ready to go. You’ve only gotta look at the comments on his twitter posts from before he said he wanted to go and it’s all love hearts and begging for him to sign a new deal. I’m not too concerned with what Southampton fans are saying.

It's not just frustration, it really isn't. Look back before the rumours and you will see that he always, always split opinion, and Southampton have actually improved form wise since he hasn't been in the team. So, I doubt they are all that bothered.

Stats do, sort of lie, as well Southampton play a very particular style, and his stats are more representative of a team that relies on makng the pitch very small and being aggressive in winning the ball back, lets just say Ward Prowses stats are remarkably similar.

 

[Joshua]

This this this this.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with this signing. But people are seriously setting themselves up for disappointment. hojbjerg clearly strengthens our squad, but I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up being used as an 'option' rather than a key starter. This doesn't mean it's a bad signing, but there is a reason that it was between us and Everton.

Tbf, the rest of the top 8 already have a high level defensive midfielder so wouldn’t have had a cause to pursue him like we did. And he also reportedly had interest from unnamed clubs in Europe. Don’t think that’s entirely fair to say “there’s a reason that it was between us and Everton” as an indication of his talent. And you could even spin that to say it was between Mourinho and Ancelotti.

 

[DCSPUR]

Yes will not forget that. Looked like a world beater with around 10-15 interceptions in like half an hour.
Such a shame that this game was probably his best in our shirt...

injury in the following game and never the same...

 

[ackie]

Medicals done. Just not announced yet, could be numerous reasons why.

Could it be that they trying and practicing to say his name properly or trying to spell Højbjerg with the Danish "o" (like we've been doing here) ?

 

[Adam456]

Medicals done. Just not announced yet, could be numerous reasons why.

Støøf couldn't find his stamp.

He has a separate one for deals done before start of pre-season training. But it doesn't get much use unfortunately

 

[emiley heskey]

Main reason why we bought hojberg is he is one of the finest defensive midfielders in the world and that's why we bought him over zakaria or florentino luis.

 

[ackie]

Could it be that they trying and practicing to say his name properly or trying to spell Højbjerg with the Danish "o" (like we've been doing here) ?

@Ordman Its a joke mate...

 

[Palmer Stoat]

@Ordman Its a joke mate...

Believe he only responds to Ørdman, mate.