Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

[emiley heskey]

I notice your choice of Eberechi Eze, that is one player we should get and should not cost the earth. We missed out on Championship players like Maddison and Grealish and look at them now. One of my top picks for the Summer even if we sold Moura or Lamela to fund him.

I think if we sell moura, then we will go for one of Willian or Ryan Fraser. May be we will buy eze and sent him to loan if we don't sell one of dele or lamela.

 

[Japhet]

I think if we sell moura, then we will go for one of Willian or Ryan Fraser. May be we will buy eze and sent him to loan if we don't sell one of dele or lamela.

Wouldn't have a problem with him staying at QPR for another year if he wanted to. Could be a real top talent in a couple of years.

 

[DiVaio]

 

[Who’s our next manager?]

I think if we sell moura, then we will go for one of Willian or Ryan Fraser. May be we will buy eze and sent him to loan if we don't sell one of dele or lamela.

Willian was excellent for Chelsea last game.

 

[Who’s our next manager?]

Lets say we need ,for example, 5 new players but have limited money available. Should we get in the 5 type of players that we need out of the money available, even though players would not normally be Jose’s top picks. Would it be better to use the money and get in just 2 ,for argument, but better players and higher up on our wanted list. Get the other positions filled next year,when hopefully there will be more money available.

 

[Japhet]

Lets say we need ,for example, 5 new players but have limited money available. Should we get in the 5 type of players that we need out of the money available, even though players would not normally be Jose’s top picks. Would it be better to use the money and get in just 2 ,for argument, but better players and higher up on our wanted list. Get the other positions filled next year,when hopefully there will be more money available.

We have to look to improve and we need quite a few upgrades. Our rivals, particularly Chelsea, are buying real top quality and will leave us behind and I can't see much point in buying in a load of average (for want of a better word) players that we then can't shift later if they don't cut it. I'd rather spend our resources on the area of most importance (which for me is DM) and see if we can pick up a couple of bargains. We've been through years of not being able to upgrade because the squad is brimming with players not quite up to the mark. I guess that's about where I stand on Hojbjerg - I'd rather we targetted a top tier DM.

 

[DCSPUR]

This this this.

You cannot honestly compare Winks now to how he was playing before we were forced into a Winks-Sissoko midfield last season. He is playing a drastically different role. He is our holding midfielder, but it's not his natural position. For what it's worth he has really improved in the role and at Spurs it might possibly be his long term future. But you cannot expect him to be doing the same kind of thing, it's not his role for us anymore.

In my book his best position will always be n.8, but we actually have a lot of number 8s right now, who probably offer more than what he does. I can see his future being in n.6 but he does need someone else to compete with him, and someone we can use in games where defensive solidity is more important than keeping the ball in transition.

Winks is very good at keeping the ball, he is very good at rotating into space (all our youth players are, they are coached to that from a young age) and making the right (boring) pass. His positional play when on the ball is very good, when off the ball he is improving, but he will never really have the frame and presence to be a natural in doing so.

For what its worth, statistically there are few better players at keeping the ball than Winks, and this is an important part of the role (namely, taking the ball under pressure from the defence and finding the free man). His passing accuracy puts him 4th in central midfielders and second in the league if you don't count man city. Only Wijnaldum is ahead of him. And he makes the 12th most passes in a game from midfield or 7th if you remove Man City (Or 4th if you remove the top 3 possession teams in the league, not a single player ahead of him comes from a team that keeps less possession than us). So lots of passes, high accuracy.

Meanwhile Winks is 10th lowest rate of not being dispossessed but needs to work a bit on unsuccessful touches as he is 21st out of 64 from midfielders. Which is good, and is the best in the team, but not excellent. But overall this is very good possession stats are very good.

If looking at just players who are listed as playing DM (this is complicated as frankly whoscored is very bad at understanding position) Winks comes 4th/27th in unsuccessful touches (much better! Btw Hojbjerg is rock bottom by a long shot 2.2 a game, more than four times as much as top DMs in that stat Neves and Fabinho, and more than twice as much as Winks on 1) and 2nd for not being dispossessed. Good numbers.

Looking defensively it's a bit meh, though stats are misleading as most of defensive work is positional play. Blocked passes can be a very useful stat to look at harry Winks is 33/64 (19/27 in listed DM). 20th for not being dribbled past (or 13/27). 32nd for interceptions (21/27) and 5th in lowest fouls given per game (6/27, there is a discrepancy because Winks isn't always listed as being a DM and I've set the new limit to 5 appearances or more instead of 10 for DM) and 24th in winning freekicks (9/27).

So pretty middle of the road., defensively, though generally the worse the team the better the stats for defensive stats. If you need to defend more you make more defensive moves! But this is where he needs to work on.

For me as a DM he needs to improve in two main things. Defensive positional play and he needs to be more aggressive, more aggressive in pressuring players in particular. Even so, these things can be worked on and are seeing signs of improvement, but ultimately his size and body shape count against him, and he isn't quick or mobile enough to offset that. So I don't think he will ever be a top quality holding midfielder, but he could develop into a very competent one that could be particularly useful in certain games and situations.

Good thoughts. I wonder whether we ultimately need a three in midfield:
GLC/ TN - the most advanced
Winks/ Skipp - the connector
A true DM

Now, for what its worth, Declan Rice would be the player i would go for based on a couple of things.
He can play the DM role well
He could also split our 2 central defenders (as Dier used to) allowing for more attacking/ progressive full backs

 

[TheAmerican]

Good thoughts. I wonder whether we ultimately need a three in midfield:
GLC/ TN - the most advanced
Winks/ Skipp - the connector
A true DM

Now, for what its worth, Declan Rice would be the player i would go for based on a couple of things.
He can play the DM role well
He could also split our 2 central defenders (as Dier used to) allowing for more attacking/ progressive full backs

Rumours that Rice is off to Chelsea have picked up the past few days.

 

[ItsBoris]

Lets say we need ,for example, 5 new players but have limited money available. Should we get in the 5 type of players that we need out of the money available, even though players would not normally be Jose’s top picks. Would it be better to use the money and get in just 2 ,for argument, but better players and higher up on our wanted list. Get the other positions filled next year,when hopefully there will be more money available.

I don't think it's either/or really. We could get Holjberg, Zouma, Willian, LB, and RB and sell a few players without breaking the bank.

 

[emiley heskey]

I don't think it's either/or really. We could get Holjberg, Zouma, Willian, LB, and RB and sell a few players without breaking the bank.

Hojberg, Zouma/Gabriel/Kim, Willan, Milik, Aarons/Castagne - I think this is what Jose and club wants.

I think jose likes Gabriel or Zouma over Kim, Castagne over Aarons whereas Club may be wants Kim and Aarons instead of Gabriel/Zouma and Castagne ... I can understand why Jose wants Castagne as he can play both LB and Rb role and is in similar mould to Azpiculeta ...

 

[ItsBoris]

Hojberg, Zouma/Gabriel/Kim, Willan, Milik, Aarons/Castagne - I think this is what Jose and club wants.

I think jose likes Gabriel or Zouma over Kim, Castagne over Aarons whereas Club may be wants Kim and Aarons instead of Gabriel/Zouma and Castagne ... I can understand why Jose wants Castagne as he can play both LB and Rb role and is in similar mould to Azpiculeta ...

Sounds about right. Watching Zouma's last two games for Chelsea I think he would be a great addition, and Jose is known for signing his previous players. Also why I think there's a pretty decent chance of signing Willian. But yeah if we got all the players in that list I think we'd be in pretty good shape (obviously have to sell a few of our's to recoup some cash)

 

[emiley heskey]

Sounds about right. Watching Zouma's last two games for Chelsea I think he would be a great addition, and Jose is known for signing his previous players. Also why I think there's a pretty decent chance of signing Willian. But yeah if we got all the players in that list I think we'd be in pretty good shape (obviously have to sell a few of our's to recoup some cash)

1. KWP out - Hojberg in ,
2. Moura out - Milik in ,
3. Foyth(Apparently Leeds, Newcastle, PSG interested), Rose(Lazio and Newcastle interested), Vert out and Gabriel/Zouma/Kim.
4. One of Aarons/Castagne in ( Unless Monaco really offers 25m for Aurier and we buy both Aarons and Castagne ),
5. Willian coming for free ...

So basically 5 players out, 5 players in but in that process we will get one extra back up striker. That's the plan for this summer window I think.

PS: I highly doubt chelsea will sell Zouma to us. It will not happen

 

[Pompation]

Hojberg, Zouma/Gabriel/Kim, Willan, Milik, Aarons/Castagne - I think this is what Jose and club wants.

I think jose likes Gabriel or Zouma over Kim, Castagne over Aarons whereas Club may be wants Kim and Aarons instead of Gabriel/Zouma and Castagne ... I can understand why Jose wants Castagne as he can play both LB and Rb role and is in similar mould to Azpiculeta ...

I'm a Spurs fan from Italy, as regards Castagne i think that it could be a trap signing, yes he's a good player and can play Both LB and RB, but Atalanta are a particular side with a specific playing system indeed the players who left Atalanta in the previous years, Kessie, Caldara, Cristante, Gagliardini, etc. struggled in their new sides and for Castagne it would be more difficult to adapt because he would play in another league and in a totally different system ( Atlanta play with three at the back)

 

[Japhet]

I'm a Spurs fan from Italy, as regards Castagne i think that it could be a trap signing, yes he's a good player and can play Both LB and RB, but Atalanta are a particular side with a specific playing system indeed the players who left Atalanta in the previous years, Kessie, Caldara, Cristante, Gagliardini, etc. struggled in their new sides and for Castagne it would be more difficult to adapt because he would play in another league and in a totally different system ( Atlanta play with three at the back)

I thought he wasn't getting any game time at Atalanta because of the system they're playing.

 

[Pompation]

I thought he wasn't getting any game time at Atalanta because of the system they're playing.

In his position there is also Hateboer and Gasperini makes a lot of turnover however on the left there is only Gosens and sometimes atalanta played with Hateboer on the right and Castagne on the left, probably Castagne is the one who plays more


moreover, speaking of Serie A players rumored to Spurs, Milik would be the perfect Kane backup, is a really good player the only issue with him are the injuries

 

[TEESSIDE1]

I thought he wasn't getting any game time at Atalanta because of the system they're playing.

He’s been playing left wing back

 

[Japhet]

He’s been playing left wing back

Big plus with him if he can play both sides.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Manchester City keen on Tottenham target Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

The 24-year-old is in the final year of his contract with Southampton and is also on Ajax's radar.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg transfer hijack as Manchester City ready to rival Tottenham for in-demand midfielder

 

[Deleted member 27995]

Manchester City keen on Tottenham target Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

The 24-year-old is in the final year of his contract with Southampton and is also on Ajax's radar.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg transfer hijack as Manchester City ready to rival Tottenham for in-demand midfielder

Sounds good.

 

[Snarfalicious]

I like our chances here.