Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

double0 said:

He hasn't been played much... anytime he did play he looked a million years ahead of many of the players around him. It's a shame he wasn't allowed to play back to back games to build up his timing and fitness levels yet we allowed other a pass.

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elfyid said:

Thats not even vaguely true, and you are talking about the open goal that is our recent tranfer record!

16/17 we bought:
Sissoko - established squad member
Wanyama - established squad member (immense until injury)
Janssen - Young and highly rated, didn't work out
Nkoudou - yep, er, just yep

17/18
Gazzaniga - established squad member
LLorente - established squad member (although aging, hence why he is not still here)
Aurier - established squad member
Foyth - jury still out, highly rated but whether he can cut is a matter of opinion
Moura - established squad member
Sanchez - established squad member

18/19
[TUMBLEWEED}

19/20
Clarke - highly rated, bought for the future
Fernandes - Jury still out.
Lo Celso - established squad member
Sessegnon - highly rated, jury still out
Bergwijn - established squad member
Ndombele - highly rated, jury out.

You say that none of these signings are for the long term, yet the vast majority of them are still here and are integral members of the squad.
Aside from Ndombele (who may still come good), those that haven't worked out and established themselves were young players that we didn't buy to be part of the immediate squad.

Just because YOU do not like certain players does not change the fact that they are key to our current squad. Can we improve? Of course, but it's disrespectful to dismiss them and the role they play.

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spids said:

When our central defenders have the ball inside our own half Sissoko hides. He moves into positions where an opponent is between him and our player in possession. He will not show for the ball and instead points at the FBs. This means we invariably have to hit a long ball or pass outside to a FB who is instantaneously pressed.The ball then is either lost, we get a throw-in in our half or the ball goes back to a CB. If Winks shows he tends to play safe and pass straight back to the CB or passes wide to a FB who is instantly pressed. The ball again goes back to a CB or we lose the ball. Repeat ad-finitum. This combination of Sissoko and Winks in CM has made us incredibly predictable in possession and slow to build an attack. I am convinced both need to be replaced. Watching Skipp come on for 10 minutes and actually show for the ball made a difference to the movement of other players, despite his passing having been instructed to be safety first. Winks for one upped his own movement. A midfield of DCM, a fully fit Lo Celso, and a trusted Ndombele would be so much better than what we have today. My concern is that Mourinho values the work Sissoko does out of possession, his positional discipline, much more than what others could do in possession, which is ultimately why Ndombele will not play. Signing Hojbjerg is a step in the right direction, but he will not improve us if played alongside Sissoko.

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elfyid said:

Thats not even vaguely true, and you are talking about the open goal that is our recent tranfer record!

16/17 we bought:
Sissoko - established squad member
Wanyama - established squad member (immense until injury)
Janssen - Young and highly rated, didn't work out
Nkoudou - yep, er, just yep

17/18
Gazzaniga - established squad member
LLorente - established squad member (although aging, hence why he is not still here)
Aurier - established squad member
Foyth - jury still out, highly rated but whether he can cut is a matter of opinion
Moura - established squad member
Sanchez - established squad member

18/19
[TUMBLEWEED}

19/20
Clarke - highly rated, bought for the future
Fernandes - Jury still out.
Lo Celso - established squad member
Sessegnon - highly rated, jury still out
Bergwijn - established squad member
Ndombele - highly rated, jury out.

You say that none of these signings are for the long term, yet the vast majority of them are still here and are integral members of the squad.
Aside from Ndombele (who may still come good), those that haven't worked out and established themselves were young players that we didn't buy to be part of the immediate squad.

Just because YOU do not like certain players does not change the fact that they are key to our current squad. Can we improve? Of course, but it's disrespectful to dismiss them and the role they play.

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spids said:

When our central defenders have the ball inside our own half Sissoko hides. He moves into positions where an opponent is between him and our player in possession. He will not show for the ball and instead points at the FBs. This means we invariably have to hit a long ball or pass outside to a FB who is instantaneously pressed.The ball then is either lost, we get a throw-in in our half or the ball goes back to a CB. If Winks shows he tends to play safe and pass straight back to the CB or passes wide to a FB who is instantly pressed. The ball again goes back to a CB or we lose the ball. Repeat ad-finitum. This combination of Sissoko and Winks in CM has made us incredibly predictable in possession and slow to build an attack. I am convinced both need to be replaced. Watching Skipp come on for 10 minutes and actually show for the ball made a difference to the movement of other players, despite his passing having been instructed to be safety first. Winks for one upped his own movement. A midfield of DCM, a fully fit Lo Celso, and a trusted Ndombele would be so much better than what we have today. My concern is that Mourinho values the work Sissoko does out of possession, his positional discipline, much more than what others could do in possession, which is ultimately why Ndombele will not play. Signing Hojbjerg is a step in the right direction, but he will not improve us if played alongside Sissoko.

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Russ Webb said:

He could have stated the players signed in the 4 years have yet been good enough to move the team forward except maybe Lo Celso and Sanchez ?

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Spartanspurs said:

I mostly agree. Accept I feel you're being harsh on Winks. He is more than willing to pass forward but with Sissoko so often hiding, he rarely has many forward options.

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Spartanspurs said:

I mostly agree. Accept I feel you're being harsh on Winks. He is more than willing to pass forward but with Sissoko so often hiding, he rarely has many forward options.

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mr ashley said:

I don’t see winks trying to thread balls through to Kane/ Son/Bergwijn like Ndombele has done this season.
I do see him shift it sideways to fullbacks and complete Scott Parker 180s though.

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spursfan77 said:

That thought is depressing. Sell both for differing reasons.

Ive a feeling we are in for a few surprises this transfer window.

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TEESSIDE1 said:

Ally Gold has hinted at one shock departure... that wouldn’t be Sissoko. Based on what we’ve heard previously and player form I expect it to be Lloris, Sanchez or Alli.

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Dirtysanchez6 said:

Ability is also important lol

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emiley heskey said:

I have said clearly other players except sanchez, lo celso most people don't want in the team. How many people even in this forum want moura, sissoko, aurier as our main 11 player? The last time we bought players that improved our main 11 was when we were in europa. And all of aurier, sanchez, sissoko, moura , llorente have become squad member, not main 11 player. This summer and the last january we went onto buy lo celso, ndombele, bergwjin as we lost dembele/eriksen and obviously something is better tbany nothing.

The gist of the post was when we were in ucl, we didn't buy players who could improve our main 11. We bought squad fillers, that's what I meant. Imagine we bought dybala back in 2018 summer when we didn't buy a single player? Or we buy ndidi in that summer to replace wanyama.

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emiley heskey said:

Where ally gold hinted that? I hope we sell sissoko and lamela first than lloris, alli or sanchez

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TEESSIDE1 said:

One of his interviews within the last week.

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THFCSPURS19 said:

If he said something like that then it’s probably opinion rather than info.

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TEESSIDE1 said:

Sissoko and Moura both work very hard but the difference between them is that Moura actually contributes in other positive ways, sticks to his position and doesn’t make critical mistakes in dangerous areas of the pitch.

Based on the quality needed to gain top 4 and to compete/potentially win a trophy I would say:

.................................... Lloris ❤............................
Aurier ?... Alderweireld ❤... Dier ?... Davies ?
.....................Sissoko ?..... Winks ?....................
..... Moura ?........... Lo Celso ❤ ........ Son ❤.....
..................................... Kane ❤ ............................

Gazzaniga ?, Sanchez ?, Tanganga ?, Skipp ?, Ndombele ?, Alli ?, Bergwijn ❤

1st team - major issues at full back and central midfield

bench - inexperience, grossly out of form Alli, fuck knows what Ndombele is and one hot prospect in Bergwijn.

We’ve major issues in both the 1st team and weakness is squad depth. As per Jose‘s interview the other day he said he was very confident of rebalancing our squad. He’s certainly the one manager that Levy and transfer committee cannot mess with. You don’t give someone a £60m? contract and then not deliver the ‘agreed’ improvements.

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emiley heskey said:

The gist of the post was when we were in ucl, we didn't buy players who could improve our main 11. We bought squad fillers, that's what I meant. Imagine we bought dybala back in 2018 summer when we didn't buy a single player? Or we buy ndidi in that summer to replace wanyama.

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soflapaul said:

Has anyone seen the Hojbjerg thread?

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