Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

[thelak]

I can remember people leveling exactly this kind of criticism at Klopp for signing Wijnaldum, Shaqiri and Robertson because they’d come from Newcastle, Stoke and a relegated Hull respectively.

Didn’t work out too badly, in hindsight.

what a bizarre argument

You’ve picked 3 random players that worked out well that have absolutely nothing to do with judging the specific player we are discussing on his own talents

Shall I now pick one of the thousands of footballers over the years that people had doubts about that turned out to be as poor as expected to counter?

Let’s stick to discussing whether Hojbjerg might be a good signing based on his own talents not because Wijnaldum turned out to be a good signing!

 

[thelak]

We don't have money at the moment - so let's just say ambition to really spend & improve is not there. So, we can only buy who is in our range.

True. Not hosting that Lady Gaga concert is really going to bite us

 

[Johnny J]

Again, I want to talk about how southampton play as it can really change what stats really mean, and even how you interpret the game on tv.

The style, to put it simply is play super compact, play the ball quickly, without worrying too much if you lose the ball, and press quickly. If you lose the ball as often as southampton, you better win it back pretty often too. Southampton's passing rate is the second lowest in the league, only long ball merchants, Burnley, are lower. But their possession stats are alright, at 11th in the league. Because they lose the ball a lot and win it back.

My point here is you can't read too much into the stats, or individual examples of blocks and all that. Because, Southampton are always likely to be making more blocks (1st in the League) and more tackles (2nd in the league) than the vast majority of teams, but there is another side of that. They also have the most fouls in the league and also the most dribbled past team in the league.

When we look at CM's Hojbjerg he is 13th in the league for tackles, not too bad, not great. His rate for interceptions is ok at 19th and he is 5th at blocking. He also bucks the team trend and is 22nd at being dribbled past. All are stats that are comparable to the likes of McArthur (10th, 8th, joint 5th, 8th) or Billing ( joint 13th,5th,joint 5th, joint 22nd) so it is always interesting that people really go on about his great stats, because, yes he scores fairly highly but most struggling team holding midfielders tend to score pretty high. The main thing that people focus on is his stats in the midfield third, which are by far the highest in the league

The issue with this is, well look at the heat maps, of the same these highlights were taken. Look at southampton, look at us.

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1447032/Live/England-FA-Cup-2019-2020-Southampton-Tottenham

I'll pick another random game

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1376146/Live/England-Premier-League-2019-2020-Southampton-Aston-Villa

same thing yes?

What about against liverpool, they lost 4-0, had only 40% of possession, so you would expect, naturally they would be playing in their own half more, right?

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1376133/Live/England-Premier-League-2019-2020-Liverpool-Southampton#heatmaps

Nope, same thing, same high line, everything condensed in that midfield third. Because, if Southampton don't win the ball in the midfield third then they don't win the ball at all. They play in the midfield third it's where all their players are most of the game. So these midfield winning stats, look impressive but, for me, in reality they are not particularly different than those of McArthur or Billing, players no one would be particularly excited about us going for (though both could do a job as a member of a squad).

But this can also affect what we can see visually. We can see Hojbjerg making tackles, being progressive with the ball blablabla, and we can not see the same thing in our players. But when you make the pitch so compact, going attack to defense isn't hard, it's one simple move, and that is why you take the risk of playing so high and so compact. We don't play that way, Jose has never played that way. Again, tackling, blocking balls and all that, is much easier when there is less space to pass into, and pressing onto a player is at much closer distance. It would be completely unreasonable to expect Hojbjerg to get even close to those number for us, and he has only got such high numbers with the tactical change at Southampton, and every single midfielder in that team produces similar figures.

Similarly, most Southampton fans see this, go to their forums. Not their forums after we were linked. Go before we were linked, and you will see it all a bit Eric Dier, and in fairness holding players are rarely universally popular with fans, because most people don't understand them (and often over value some of the stats I have just used as a comparison) and it is always hard to judge how he would adapt in a new team. Maybe playing with better players will give him a new lease of life and help him be more effective, he is also still young and developing and has a arrogant demanding personality (which Jose might like) but there is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, that tells me this will be some super solution to our midfield woes.

So I write this, and other things, not because I don't want him. If we sign him, I'd shrug my shoulders but see some merit in the move, but I worry you guys are going to kill him when he doesn't suddenly solve all our issues, or when inevitably he gives the ball away in a silly position (something he is quite good at) or seems flat paced and isn't winning enough tackles. Because these things will probably happen, and it's not his fault, because some the reactions here are completely over the top to his actual ability.

Can you please send this to Levy?

 

[dtxspurs]

As its fairly obvious we want Hojbjerg. Ally Gold mentioned him as someone he knew we were looking at along with Milik from Napoli. Also threw out Max Aarons & Nathan Ferguson for RB.

 

[Montalbano]

The hype around us signing this guy is a product of desperation from our run of poor form. Hopefully once we start winning it will become apparent Hojbjerg is not what we need long term.

We already have great creative midfielders with Lo Celso, Ndombele, and even Gedson potentially — now we just need a proper DM who can allow these players to fully express themselves going forward. We'd be better off with Sissoko than PEH.

 

[mr ashley]

The hype around us signing this guy is a product of desperation from our run of poor form. Hopefully once we start winning it will become apparent Hojbjerg is not what we need long term.

We already have great creative midfielders with Lo Celso, Ndombele, and even Gedson potentially — now we just need a proper DM who can allow these players to fully express themselves going forward. We'd be better off with Sissoko than PEH.

Come on now. Sissoko is certainly the hardest worker in the squad. But his passing is almost non existent. Yesterday at one point he let Sanchez take the ball on and pass it. None of our other midfielders would do that. But Sissoko doesn’t read the game well enough

 

[JonnySpurs]

Sissoko is doing an admirable job at the moment considering his limitations. His strength and stamina are working when he focuses on just winning the ball back but positioning will be the trick over time.

Hojbjerg isn't the best player we can buy right now for CDM but in the current climate, lacking funds, he may be the best option we can get. He knows the league and could therefore hit the ground running. He might end up being brilliant and a shrewd signing as a result but if not then he will be a serviceable option until such time that we can go out and make a bigger name signing in that position.

 

[Timberwolf]

As its fairly obvious we want Hojbjerg. Ally Gold mentioned him as someone he knew we were looking at along with Milik from Napoli. Also threw out Max Aarons & Nathan Ferguson for RB.

Encouraging that we're apparently focusing on those positions at least. I think it's abundantly clear to most on here that CDM, fullback and backup ST should be our priorities.

I think most of us would've also said CB a week ago but Dier 2.0 is looking boss. He's been seriously buffed in the latest patch and bringing in a CB is less urgent now.

 

[mr ashley]

Encouraging that we're apparently focusing on those positions at least. I think it's abundantly clear to most on here that CDM, fullback and backup ST should be our priorities.

I think most of us would've also said CB a week ago but Dier 2.0 is looking boss. He's been seriously buffed in the latest patch and bringing in a CB is less urgent now.

Agree, Dier at Cb is a real solution. He’s looking good there. An upgrade on Sissoko is important, if only because he’s the most limited player, and this might allow ndombele to play more.
Seeing Aurier play more and more as a rwb makes me think Aaron’s would be an upgrade (despite having doubts about his defensive ability). Aaron’s could supply double the assists serge does based on his quality.
Hopefully we’ll start to hear some more ITK soon about our work behind the scenes

 

[freeeki]

what a bizarre argument

You’ve picked 3 random players that worked out well that have absolutely nothing to do with judging the specific player we are discussing on his own talents

Shall I now pick one of the thousands of footballers over the years that people had doubts about that turned out to be as poor as expected to counter?

Let’s stick to discussing whether Hojbjerg might be a good signing based on his own talents not because Wijnaldum turned out to be a good signing!

How is it a bizarre argument?

The original point was you sneering at the fact our "rivals" are apparently not interested in him.

I pointed out that that isn't actually a benchmark for suitability, as evidenced by other who said team's "rivals" weren't sniffing round.

 

[brasil_spur]

Having now watched our first two games back i'm more convinced that PEH would be a good signing for us, we really need a minimum of 2 quality players for each position, at the moment the positions we don't have that for are:

ST: Urgently need a 2nd striker
CDM: Urgently need someone as 1st choice with Sissoko and possibly Winks as so-so 2nd choices
RB: We're fooked if Aurier gets injured
CB: Probably need to get a replacement in for when Jan leaves, unless Foyth is deemed as suitable

Really that's only 4 players we need to bring in this window. It's not a massive ask and frankly can be done with quality players for under £50m if we play our cards right. Whether we have £50m or not is the question.

Likelyhood is I think we will address 3 out of 4 of those positions spending around £20-30m, which is not a bad outcome IMO.

 

[Frozen_Waffles]

How many Spurs fans would say that Jordan Henderson is a limited player, whose passing isn't good enough?? Players like Holberg & Henderson do the dirty work that allows the creative players more freedom to play. He would add a physical presence, work rate & leadership to a key area. Personally think he would be an excellent addition.

Jordan Henderson is an incredibly limited player, if Liverpool didn't play the way they did he would be bang average.

But he plays it quick and decisive and does a job defensively. He is told to get the ball and hit it early, which makes him very useful with the fast football Liverpool play.

And hopefully Pierre can do the job we need of him, winning the ball back fast and giving it quickly to more creative players.

 

[Gspurs11]

Not sure if posted but here's a longer video showcasing what's he's about.

 

[daryl hannah]

Not sure if posted but here's a longer video showcasing what's he's about.

He looks awesome from that compilation. The idea of what a midfield destroyer should be for us might be based on the fact that we had a formidable midfield in Wanyama and Dembele in 16/17. Hojbjerg is a little cuter on the ball than those two, but no less effective. If anything, he looks more effective.

Can't wait to see a 4-3-3 line up of

---------Hojbjerg----------
-Ndombele------Lo Celso--
--Bergwijn-------Son------
-----------Kane-----------

 

[archiewasking]

He looks awesome from that compilation. The idea of what a midfield destroyer should be for us might be based on the fact that we had a formidable midfield in Wanyama and Dembele in 16/17. Hojbjerg is a little cuter on the ball than those two, but no less effective. If anything, he looks more effective.

Can't wait to see a 4-3-3 line up of

---------Hojbjerg----------
-Ndombele------Lo Celso--
--Bergwijn-------Son------
-----------Kane-----------

He does look great in that video. But I still feel Skipp could be our guy. By all means get PEH in, but give OS the chance to play and build a career with us as well.

 

[Japhet]

He looks awesome from that compilation. The idea of what a midfield destroyer should be for us might be based on the fact that we had a formidable midfield in Wanyama and Dembele in 16/17. Hojbjerg is a little cuter on the ball than those two, but no less effective. If anything, he looks more effective.

Can't wait to see a 4-3-3 line up of

---------Hojbjerg----------
-Ndombele------Lo Celso--
--Bergwijn-------Son------
-----------Kane-----------

I'd like to see that lineup too but I doubt it will happen since we absolutely have to have Dele on the pitch whenever possible.

 

[wirE]

Good interception on Saka. He and Soton has a lot of work to do as Arsenal are running the match

 

[spursfan77]

Don’t see the fuss what so ever. He just looks like an average premier league player. Ward prowse is better but neither are what we need. He wouldn’t even get in ahead of sissoko. He just stands around pointing, gets the ball and passes it backwards. Does it every time. Next.

 

[ItsBoris]

I'd like to see that lineup too but I doubt it will happen since we absolutely have to have Dele on the pitch whenever possible.

Why's that?

 

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

Don’t see the fuss what so ever. He just looks like an average premier league player. Ward prowse is better but neither are what we need. He wouldn’t even get in ahead of sissoko. He just stands around pointing, gets the ball and passes it backwards. Does it every time. Next.

I’m getting Michael Brown vibes from him, in the way he moves, closes down and puts in challenges. i don’t think he’d be a disaster signing as he seems to have good work ethic and energy but I think in time his ability will be exposed and we’ll need to be looking again. Hopefully we just cut out the middle man and we address that position properly