Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

JKendall13 · Aug 10, 2020

Feeling good about the midfield next year. Hojbjerg, Lo Celso, Ndombele, Winks, Sissoko, and Gedson offers a lot of versatility and is excellent depth that we’ll need being in UEL.

BringBack_leGin · Aug 10, 2020

hellava_tough said:
A lot of those players were already established PL players when we signed them. They didn't come directly from France.

Not sure if that adds or detracts from anyone's argument. Just an observation.

True enough. I was just rejecting the notions that we shouldn’t sign french players as being absurd.

HodisGawd · Aug 10, 2020

WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP?

doctor stefan Freud · Aug 10, 2020

HodisGawd said:
WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP, WHERE'S THE STAMP?

DCSPUR · Aug 10, 2020

BringBack_leGin said:
our premier league Ligue 1 made xi:

Lloris
Gallas Kaboul Bassong
Chimbonda _____________ Ekotto
Sissoko Capoue
Steed ____________ Ginola
Kanoute

All of these players broke through in (and apart from Steed and Chimbonda were born in) France, and all apart from Capoue were at the very least productive signings for us, while Capoue has since gone on to prove he is far better than we saw of him and just wasn’t the right fit.

Of course there’s failures but I can’t think of a non British nation we’ve had more success out of in terms of transfers, whether buying directly feom that nation or as a next move.

remember Capoue's debut against Palace (as a sub) - incredible.

carpediem991 · Aug 10, 2020

DCSPUR said:
remember Capoue's debut against Palace (as a sub) - incredible.

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...

sausage · Aug 10, 2020

If it's normal spurs, the announcement won't be until at least 7pm

Mark_147 · Aug 10, 2020

C0YS said:
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.

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.

spursfan77 · Aug 10, 2020

G Ron said:
Can’t agree enough with this. The man would jump and kill a Robbo punt on his chest whereas most players wouldn’t even win it with their head. Cracking player was Freddie - strange how his career with us panned out.

It’s because he fucked us by switching allegiance from France and going to the African Nations Cup at the last minute. His career with us never recovered.

G Ron · Aug 10, 2020

spursfan77 said:
It’s because he fucked us by switching allegiance from France and going to the African Nations Cup at the last minute. His career with us never recovered.

That’s right, wouldn’t be a problem these days as they’ve moved AFCON to the summer, but at the time I don’t think Levy was impressed!

Montalbano · Aug 10, 2020

spursfan77 · Aug 10, 2020

G Ron said:
That’s right, wouldn’t be a problem these days as they’ve moved AFCON to the summer, but at the time I don’t think Levy was impressed!

I remember being pretty pissed off too as I really rated him. I doubt he looked back on moving to Sevilla as a mistake though.

McFlash · Aug 10, 2020

SecretLemonadeDrinker said:
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.

Also, we may not have faced much competition because he appears to have been set on coming to us for quite some time.

I think the Everton 'interest' was a bit of a ploy to try and squeeze us for more money, which obviously didn't work.

ardiles · Aug 10, 2020

the yid said:
I think this signing is the smartest signing since Scott Parker. Done the ugly stuff so the technical players could flourish

We’ve needed a proper DM for some time already , to protect our defence and also give more freedom to our AMs/CMs

TheAmerican · Aug 10, 2020

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.

carmeldevil · Aug 10, 2020

TheAmerican said:
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.

So a good signing?

Jules77 · Aug 10, 2020

dk-yid said:
Can we stop with the Højbjerg can't pass nonsense ffs. Until this (78%) and last season (80%) he has averaged mid to high 80`s in pass completion.

The other midfielders in the Southampton team are at the same level suggesting it's the system...

Agree. I don't have time to look back through this thread to see if this was discussed, but there was a great article in The Athletic about him and what he'd bring. I wont link as it's behind a fire wall, but to quote:

"As a ball-progressing midfielder, Hojbjerg has probably developed less than Guardiola would have hoped in their days together in Munich.
This, however, comes with a significant caveat. Because of Hasenhuttl’s very specific approach, which uses counter-pressing by the strikers and wide midfielders to hem teams in around the wide areas and half spaces, Hojbjerg hits a lot of early passes to drop in the channels for them to hunt down — this naturally inhibits his passing numbers."

SpursSince1980 · Aug 10, 2020

Lots of interesting analysis on PEH, in terms of relative value. Like most, I view him as an integral component that makes the entire mechanism work. Like if you are building a PC of component parts, the sexiest bits are stuff like the processor and graphics card. However, none of that means a jot if you don't have a boring 'ol power supply. That the type of player he seems to be. Nothing about him entices the imagination, but he is critical for what Jose needs in terms of empowering all of the other pieces that make the whole.

Very curious to see if he will play in a midfield with both Lo Celso and NDombele.

emiley heskey · Aug 10, 2020

^tactics tim sherwood also played siggurdsson in central midfield role

synththfc · Aug 10, 2020

TheAmerican said:
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.

Jose's always been able to spot a DM. Seems like this is no different.

Forums

What's new

Matches

Sportsbook

Members

Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

the tired tread of sad biology

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

?

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

In the corner, eating crayons.

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads