Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

[Bluto Blutarsky]

From ESPN:

It might be surprising to some to see his name here, but Hojbjerg is a pretty simple player to appreciate. Among Premier League midfielders last season, he was:

- Fourth in combined tackles and interceptions
- Third in total minutes played
- First in progressive passes completed.

He's always on the field, he wins the ball and he passes it forward. What more do you want from a midfielder?

?

 

[Deleted member 29446]

From ESPN:

It might be surprising to some to see his name here, but Hojbjerg is a pretty simple player to appreciate. Among Premier League midfielders last season, he was:

- Fourth in combined tackles and interceptions
- Third in total minutes played
- First in progressive passes completed.

He's always on the field, he wins the ball and he passes it forward. What more do you want from a midfielder?

?

That he moves like this and is called Højbjergzinho!

 

[yusrisafri]

In my opinion, he is still the automatic choice in central midfield while bissouma, bentancur and skipp fight it out for the other spot

 

[cockerel downunder]

I think he will really benefit from not having to play every single game and have his best season yet! Looked exhausted at times last season.

 

[dtxspurs]

Thought he was really good today and played some really nice forward passes.

 

[glospur]

Thought he was really good today and played some really nice forward passes.

eh, i somewhat disagree. he did some good things, some bad. he still looks uncomfortable receiving the ball under pressure, and IMO Bentancur is just an all round classier player. PEH is most at risk of losing his spot to Skipp/Bissouma imo

 

[Cochise]

I think it was him that slid the ball in to Emerson in the build up to the fourth goal. Also put in that great pass over the top for Son in the first half. At the same time, I was raging at him passing the ball behind Son in the build up to the third. Got lucky there that Salisu got disoriented and kicked the ball at the wrong goal.

 

[rambu]

Agree that being able to rotate without dropping too much quality will be huge for the heavy duty positions.
He look noticeably slimmer, but not sharper as I imagined him to be today.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Very good today.

 

[PrettyColors]

He was very poor for the conceded goal (not just him, but he scuffed a clearance earlier in the play and kinda just stood their ball watching for 20 seconds, allowing JWP to ghost in easily)

but after that, he played very well. The ball to Son that brought up the corner for the second goal was great. I think Skipp may be better but will keep that opinion in the back pocket until Oli plays again..

 

[Tonio]

Had he been alert he could have had a goal. When the cross came in for the own goal I feel he could easily have run in and slotted home. That being said I thought he had a good game. ?

 

[SonnySpurs]

Besides the goal, thought this game was a good example as to why it's not a certainty Bentancur is a guaranteed starter over Pierre. The leadership that players like Hojberg, Perisic, Kane, etc. provide is vital and shows why manager after manager start him

 

[JCRD]

Besides the goal, thought this game was a good example as to why it's not a certainty Bentancur is a guaranteed starter over Pierre. The leadership that players like Hojberg, Perisic, Kane, etc. provide is vital and shows why manager after manager start him

I wanted PEH to be replaced at half time but he is a leader as are a few of the others out there... I love the guy but he was poor today but got us the goal and does have a decent shot on him.

 

[Stamford]

He often shows up when everyone else is hiding. Happy he got his goal

 

[Flobadob]

Deary me. A goal doesn’t take away from the fact he got shown up for the 5th game in a row against a proper midfield (Chelsea)

 

[Cochise]

He looked like a jack russel running around the dog park at times. He's too keen to get out at the opposition and gets passed around. With that said, he usually pulls something out from somewhere when we need it. I do think that long term he will be replaced, but he's still a decent player to have around.

 

[chrisd2k]

I dunno man. He looks awkward and fails the eye test and was chasing shadows, mainly due to poor tactics.

Then he scores that goal. I dunno man ?

 

[SonnySpurs]

I agree that he can be upgraded and I'm not his biggest fan by any means. But we need leaders like him sprinkled throughout the starting 11 to organize and push the rest of the team on

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Deary me. A goal doesn’t take away from the fact he got shown up for the 5th game in a row against a proper midfield

Outnumbered. Don't blame the individual player for the manager's tactics and formation.

Because they had a third midfielder and because it was Jorginho, whose expert skill is sweeping up in a deep position and starting attacks, Chelsea were able to close-mark Bentancur and Højbjerg with two of the best ball-winners in the league and press and tackle them instantly, every time they got the ball, knowing that Jorginho was there if they didn't succeed. They started their press from 2m closer than we did, because they had cover.

When Richarlison came on, the change in momentum wasn't because of anything in particular he did - it was because, with four attacking players on the pitch, Kane (occasionally Kulusevski) could drop back into midfield and make the extra man, which enabled us to win and then hang onto the ball, for the first time in the match.

It worked and produced pressure for the first time, which led to Højbjerg's goal, but it required a change to 4 at the back, which was exposed badly for James' goal. Normally, our third central defender would have been in the empty space on our left that James exploited.

EDIT: incidentally, what I described in the first two paragraphs was exactly what happened in all four losses to them last season. We had no control of midfield because we were playing with two against a highly skilled and combative three.

 

[funkycoldmedina]

I agree that he can be upgraded and I'm not his biggest fan by any means. But we need leaders like him sprinkled throughout the starting 11 to organize and push the rest of the team on

I agree but we have struggled in midfield for so long and he's just a bit light on quality in these big games. Plenty of game time for him against lesser teams but I'd have Bissouma starting more often