Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

He’d get crucified here, mainly because he’s not good enough on the ball and also a bit suspicious of his defensive numbers on the basis of who he plays for and the way they play.

 

[mr ashley]

He’d get crucified here, mainly because he’s not good enough on the ball and also a bit suspicious of his defensive numbers on the basis of who he plays for and the way they play.

Can anyone describe how Southampton play? I haven’t really paid much attention to there style or setup. If they’re a counter-attacking side, then based on the games we played in 2020, he’ll fit right in, especially against the bigger teams. Remember the games against Liverpool and City at home? We defended our 18 and looked to spring quick counters.
If we sign him, he’s not going to get people up out of their seats. But he might be an astute signing who plays simple football and makes our creative players play better. I’ve got no problem with that.

 

[The Scarecrow]

A small show of appreciation, if I may, for @THFCSPURS19 who showed far more care in spelling Højbjerg correctly in the thread title than did the Times in their article.

A bit wasted on that half of the forum who never learned how to spell Eriksen, but, hey, appreciated all the same.

If we sign him, he'll be only our second ever player to have an Ø in his name after Øyvind Leonhardsen. The great thing about Leo is that we never lost when he scored. The slightly less great thing about him is that, given he only got seven in three years, that wasn't quite as impressive as it might have been.

Anyway, all things considered, I've been a sucker for weird letters in Spurs' players' names since the days of Guðni Bergsson, so count me in for Højbjerg.

Can you imagine how many ways people will find to misspell his name, though? The ø is one thing. I'm just as worried about that nasty jbj sequence that I imagine no more than 10% of us will get right. Then there's that double barrelled first name. I guess he'll become PEH rather quickly.

 

[Gassin's finest]

I quite like this kind of signing. A good, hard working player, with the right attitude, good pedigree, and still lots of potential. Experienced internationally as well. Jose will love him.

 

[DiVaio]

Yesterday on Twitter I saw Southampton fans saying that Wanyama flopped for us and currently they would happily swap him with Hojbjerg

 

[WiganSpur]

Yesterday on Twitter I saw Southampton fans saying that Wanyama flopped for us and currently they would happily swap him with Hojbjerg

To be fair I can see how they would think that on recent viewing but it's obviously not the whole story

 

[DJS]

Yesterday on Twitter I saw Southampton fans saying that Wanyama flopped for us and currently they would happily swap him with Hojbjerg

They’re wrong though as Wanyama didn’t flop with us - he was absolutely immense in his first season.

Not his fault he was then very unfortunate with his physicality health.

If we still had the Wanyama of that first season I reckon we might even have won something by now as he gave us something we tend to be missing - a dominant central midfield player who doesn’t mind getting stuck in. Dier has done this in the past but Wanyama in his prime was such an upgrade it’s untrue.

 

[punkisback]

Was a talent at Bayern, thought that Saints had pulled off a coup by signing him. He would be a definite upgrade to our DM purely as we don't have one!

 

[wirE]

I just hope he can cope with Mourinho's pressure. He was off the National team for a period after being subbed and made a non-verbal gesture towards the coach. He's been described as 'a bit of a dick' by some.

 

[Finchyid]

Was always MOM against us, I would take him if it was a good deal

 

[Gassin's finest]

I don't think he's a dedicated DM though. He's more of an 8, box to box type. Would possibly be good in a double 6, but not sure if he's better than what we have for a double 8 in a midfield 3.

Dependable player for the squad mind.

 

[bbunc]

I don't think he's a dedicated DM though. He's more of an 8, box to box type. Would possibly be good in a double 6, but not sure if he's better than what we have for a double 8 in a midfield 3.

Dependable player for the squad mind.

that’s what worries me most. We have an abundance of 8s and no 6s. I think we’re going to spend 30 here where 45-50 would get us one of the best 3 DMs in the world in Zakaria.

 

[Timberwolf]

that’s what worries me most. We have an abundance of 8s and no 6s. I think we’re going to spend 30 here where 45-50 would get us one of the best 3 DMs in the world in Zakaria.

I agree that in an ideal world it would be better to spend big on a top quality DM than half-arsing it on someone who doesn't quite fit.

However it would take a minor miracle for us to spend 40-50m this summer. If we do go for Hojbjerg I'd be utterly amazed if we went as high as 30 - far more likely that it will be around 15-20 or a part-exchange deal for KWP.

And ultimately Hojbjerg, even if he's not a pure DM, would be a fuckton better than buying no-one or sticking with our current options.

Of our currently 8s and 6s the only ones with any defensive nous are Skipp and, oddly enough, Lo Celso. Winks, Fernandes and Ndombele are average at best defensively while Sissoko should never be played in a midfield 2 (IMO) and Dier is apparently now a CB. We need someone to come in who is at least defensively minded, even if they aren't a pure DM.

 

[Japhet]

I agree that in an ideal world it would be better to spend big on a top quality DM than half-arsing it on someone who doesn't quite fit.

However it would take a minor miracle for us to spend 40-50m this summer. If we do go for Hojbjerg I'd be utterly amazed if we went as high as 30 - far more likely that it will be around 15-20 or a part-exchange deal for KWP.

And ultimately Hojbjerg, even if he's not a pure DM, would be a fuckton better than buying no-one or sticking with our current options.

Of our currently 8s and 6s the only ones with any defensive nous are Skipp and, oddly enough, Lo Celso. Winks, Fernandes and Ndombele are average at best defensively while Sissoko should never be played in a midfield 2 (IMO) and Dier is apparently now a CB. We need someone to come in who is at least defensively minded, even if they aren't a pure DM.

I think Skipp deserves a shot, especially since I think he's got a better defensive game than Hojbjerg. He got bugger all chances last season though even though it was blatantly obvious we needed somebody to sit and hold. It seems though that Mourinho will sacrifice midfield solidity to get Dele on the pitch but it was a shite tactic that saw us repeatedly overrun in midfield while the players up top stood around holding their dicks.

 

[Timberwolf]

I think Skipp deserves a shot, especially since I think he's got a better defensive game than Hojbjerg. He got bugger all chances last season though even though it was blatantly obvious we needed somebody to sit and hold. It seems though that Mourinho will sacrifice midfield solidity to get Dele on the pitch but it was a shite tactic that saw us repeatedly overrun in midfield while the players up top stood around holding their dicks.

100% agree. I do think we need to bring in someone else, though, as there's no way we can rely on Skipp to be our primary DM for the entire season. I think Hojbjerg with Skipp in rotation would be a good compromise.

 

[Japhet]

100% agree. I do think we need to bring in someone else, though, as there's no way we can rely on Skipp to be our primary DM for the entire season. I think Hojbjerg with Skipp in rotation would be a good compromise.

Kind of agree in that we're unlikely to sign anyone of real quality. I think both Winks and Skipp would be so much better in a midfield 3 though and that might buy us time til we can bring in some real quality. I can see in a couple of seasons time a situation where we can't sign some real talent and people will be moaning because Hojbjerg is taking up space. Been there before.

Edit; I'd even be happy to see Foyth given a chance at DM. Dier managed it with way less footballing talent than Foyth has.

 

[arunspurs]

I don't think he has any weakness in his game. Seems many are underestimating his technical quality. Lets be clear - he spent 4 years at Bayern getting his pro contract to representing their senior team under Pep. Its a complete myth he is not technically good or not good on the ball.

At Southampton , it's been chaos for last 4 years - constant change of managers and change in style from Puel to Pelligrino to Hughes to Hassenhuttl. Player quality in them have gone down in last few years. He has seen it all and is now the club captain at 24.

I believe, with better players around him, he will get better and show his quality

 

[BringBack_leGin]

I don't think he has any weakness in his game. Seems many are underestimating his technical quality. Lets be clear - he spent 4 years at Bayern getting his pro contract to representing their senior team under Pep. Its a complete myth he is not technically good or not good on the ball.

At Southampton , it's been chaos for last 4 years - constant change of managers and change in style from Puel to Pelligrino to Hughes to Hassenhuttl. Player quality in them have gone down in last few years. He has seen it all and is now the club captain at 24.

I believe, with better players around him, he will get better and show his quality

Agree with all of this.

People can’t seem to look past their defined stereo type of what a signing should be for any given position. Full backs have to be fast. Midfielders either have to be action heroes or Hoddle. Wingers need to have a name ending in ‘dinho.

This guy would give us a lot of what we lost when Dembele left, but by a different method. Full backs, centre backs, wingers, forwards and other midfielders would all instantly look 10-15% better just by having this guy in the middle.

 

[Snarfalicious]

Stripped of the Captaincy today by Houseandhuddle. He's ours, boys!

 

[HildoSpur]

Get him in.