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Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

Col_M

Pointing out the Obvious
Feb 28, 2012
22,637
45,676
Think of the trouble we got Into with all the Eric, Erik, Eriksen, Erickson malarkey.

Now we have Bergs. the Gramerr police will bee Polishing there jackboot’s in auntiCipashun
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,389
The thing I'm most looking forward to with Hojbjerg is having somebody in CM who is good at recovering the ball and winning second balls. IMO, we have been exceptionally bad at this for a long time (in fact since our aggressive pressing stopped). It wasn't helped by continually playing 2 in CM who were more often than not overrun by the opposition. As I've said before, a signing like Hojbjerg is all about chemistry rather than individual talent, and if the chemistry is right he could be a cracking signing.
 

glospur

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2015
2,608
9,806
And here I was pronouncing it Hodge-ba-gerg (that third syllable starting with the 'g' in garage :sneaky: )
 

Who’s our next manager?

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2020
1,231
1,806
Pasting content - Admin can delete the post, if there is any violation.


The most ball recoveries in the league – what Spurs should expect from Hojbjerg


Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, like Sergio Busquets, the linchpin of Barcelona, has a natural sense of position. It is an innate skill and something he has never needed to work on. At just 17, he does most of the right things automatically. He has also come along ready and willing to learn” – Marti Perarnau, in his book Pep Confidential

Every effort at assessing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg probably contains a shoehorned Pep Guardiola reference, but it’s a helpful starting point for assessing Tottenham Hotspur’s latest acquisition.

Hojbjerg, “a diamond in the rough” who Guardiola tried to polish up in the Dane’s first two seasons at Bayern Munich, was tipped as a future Busquets-style midfielder: someone who reads the game brilliantly, protects his backline with intelligence and positional awareness rather than overt physicality, and opens up opposition midfield lines with penetrative passing. It’s likely that no Tottenham fan is expecting Hojbjerg to be north London’s answer to Busquets, but what can they expect from the former Southampton captain?

Southampton play a 4-2-2-2 under Ralph Hasenhuttl, succinctly explained here by The Athletic’s Carl Anka. Hojbjerg is one of the double pivots, playing largely behind the two inverted wide midfielders and alongside James Ward-Prowse. Of those two, Ward-Prowse is the slightly more progressive passer and Hojbjerg the slightly more aggressive presser and defender, but it’s noticeable just how close their statistics are in these areas – Hasenhuttl created a midfield machine where roles overlap and players are expected to contribute to all facets of the game.

Hojbjerg’s headline-grabbing statistic is the less-than-glamorous “ball recoveries” – winning back a loose ball that’s been lost by a team-mate — and this past season he made 510, according to StatsBomb, more than any other player in the Premier League. Third for this metric was Hojbjerg’s midfield colleague Ward-Prowse – between them, they accounted for a quarter of all Southampton’s recoveries, and no team snaffled the ball back more than Southampton. This is testament both to Hojbjerg’s reading of the game and his slightly maniacal energy levels. He’s effective when mopping up loose balls after attacks break down and protecting Southampton from transitions and will hunt down counter-attacks too, although he’s not blessed with real pace.

Southampton are a pressing side and Hojbjerg was key to this. He’s an organiser, barking orders and setting the tone for their pressing game. He responds well to the pressing triggers – loose touches, backwards or horizontal passes by the touchline – and he’s also adept at pouncing on players from their blind spot as they receive a pass. In his one-one-one defending, he can get too square and occasionally dives in a little quickly, though in general he’s quite disciplined; his technique could improve, though.

Importantly, he’s committed. This sequence against Brighton and Hove Albion last month shows him exposed in his own half and trying to cover a large gap on the counter. His body position guards the channel, blocking off any passing lanes or the dribble.

saints-highlight.jpg


The Brighton player passes inside…

Screenshot-2020-08-07-at-09.23.15.png


…Hojbjerg immediately sets off to cover across the top of the penalty area, his running blocking the return pass cleverly…

Screenshot-2020-08-07-at-09.23.30.png


…before winning the ball back with a good shoulder-to-shoulder challenge.

Screenshot-2020-08-07-at-09.23.57.png


This combination of good spatial defending, commitment – it was deep into stoppage-time with the scores level at this point – and technique is the sort of around-the-box presence that helps any side.

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.

Nonetheless, he’s a good technical striker of the ball. The match above against Brighton, which he actually began playing at right-back, showed off his long passing – one cross-field ball to Nathan Redmond hit its exact spot with some nice backspin, and a long pass down the line to Michael Obafemi boxed Brighton in.

Often, he receives the ball under some pressure from the defence, shifts it back and moves to take a higher position between the lines to show as another passing option. So he’s good at keeping the ball moving, and busy when it comes to getting into position. Around a fifth of his passes are made under pressure (according to StatsBomb data) indicative of his role in keeping play moving in midfield before another player plays a more direct pass forward.

That’s not to say he can’t play clever passes, though. This example, against his future Spurs colleagues in an FA Cup tie at the start of the year, sees him cutting infield and then stabbing a short, angled through-ball with the outside of his foot to meet Obafemi’s run, which very nearly results in a goal.

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In general, though, it’s hard to assess what kind of passing Hojbjerg will bring. He’s probably got more in his locker than he’s shown this season, but it could take him a bit of time to rediscover that, or it could be that Spurs head coach Jose Mourinho wants exactly that kind of receive-pass-move-receive player to oil the cogs in midfield.

So how will he fit in? Much will depend on who he gets paired with in the double pivot. In some ways, the most exciting prospect is him playing alongside Giovani Lo Celso, who shows up extremely well in pressing metrics and moves the ball forwards in a similar way to Hojbjerg, but with more line-breaking ability. This would give Tottenham a dynamic, pressing double pivot, although perhaps without the sheer athleticism Mourinho wants in at least one of the deeper midfielders.

Although Tanguy Ndombele seemed to end the season out of favour, he too could work neatly with Hojbjerg, bringing similar passing numbers but greater ball carrying. A Hojbjerg-Harry Winks double pivot would probably see the latter dropping off to collect the ball and move it on, with Hojbjerg working more as a screen and doing the bulk of the defensive work, an area where Winks is a little less effective.

Of course, Mourinho could persist with Moussa Sissoko, who started all of Spurs’ nine post-lockdown matches and played the full 90 in six of them. He does offer ball-carrying from deep, and this could allow Hojbjerg to play further up the pitch, engaging a higher press and using his progressive passing, which is better than Sissoko’s. There’s a danger that this midfield pairing could be too similar, though – two good all-rounders who don’t do anything exceptionally – and it would lack a real progressive passer such as Winks or Le Celso.

Here’s how Hojbjerg compares with Spurs’ current options, based on this season’s key metrics per 90 minutes, according to StatsBomb.

Hojbjerg vs Spurs' midfield options
HOJBJERGWINKSSISSOKODIERLO CELSONDOMBELE
Goals000.07000.18
Assists0.0300.040.130.121.8
Shots on target0.330.080.150.070.180.36
Progressive passes4.746.153.493.026.25.45
Final third passes4.716.032.683.765.484.2
Pass completion %78.188.586.581.482.884.6
Successful dribbles1.30.571.510.22.33.21
Tackles won1.860.931.290.941.991.7
Interceptions1.471.51.141.280.721.16
Recoveries16.79.410.511.410.19.7
Successful pressures6.935.264.633.628.075
The key with the construction of any midfield is balance. A manager likely wants some aspects to be complimentary – similar pressing styles, for example – and some to give variety – one player being better defensively, another better at getting the ball forward. Hojbjerg certainly adds to Mourinho’s options in that regard, but perhaps isn’t different enough in some key regards from what is already in the squad.

Hojbjerg has yet to deliver on the promise Guardiola saw in him as a teenager at Bayern, and one wonders how such attention, both from the coach and Perarnau’s book, affected his progress. He has developed into the kind of player who is good at pretty much everything, long-range shooting aside, but without managing to be great at anything, recoveries aside.

His reading of the game is his biggest asset and that will certainly benefit Spurs. But, having played in such a clearly defined system with Southampton, one hardly geared to encourage the kind of line-breaking passes and tight game management once envisioned as his future, it’s hard to know Hojbjerg will adapt.

He’ll be an asset to his new club, certainly. But to what degree depends on how exactly Mourinho plans to use him and how quickly Hojbjerg adapts to a very different style of play.

A more genuinely destructive and athletic presence, with the same positional acumen, might have been a more sensible choice – another Victor Wanyama, in other words – but for what’s available currently in the market and the price bracket Spurs were shopping in, Hojbjerg should be considered a good, if not outstanding, acquisition.
[/QUOTE


Let’s hope so, he’s much better than Winks and Sissoko anyway"
 

DogsOfWar

Well-Known Member
Jan 12, 2005
2,292
3,603
A decent DM has to be able to bring the ball out and do something with it, otherwise the opposition don't bother to press him and it's like playing a man down.
This is made worse if the opposition are just happy to sit back.

A great example of this is when England used to play with Dier as CM. All qualifying opposition used to just sit back and Dier would just play sideways passes and we'd go nowhere.
When Winks or Henderson play there they were happy to bring the ball out drawing an opposition player out.
We had the same problem with Wanyama when we played against weaker opposition, he just offered nothing going forward.

Højbjerg looks happy, and capable, of doing this so we could be onto a winner here.
 

diamond lights

active member
Aug 31, 2012
1,442
5,657
A hundred pages discussing the actual transfer, thirty discussing the pronunciation of his name.
I think you may be exaggerating 100.

I listened to his interview in full - very impressive. Real awareness and leadership. If we have the captains of France, England and South Korea and leaders like Davies, Dier and Pierre-Emile ;) we're in good shape.
 

RikkiRocket

Well-Known Member
Jul 21, 2015
1,605
3,277
“most ball recoveries in the league – what Spurs should expect from Hojbjerg“

hence now known as “Ball Boy”. ?
 

Adam456

Well-Known Member
Jul 1, 2005
4,453
3,117
So now that everybody is fully on board the PEH Express (wøø wøø !) and the chemistry is more important than the player etc ....what the bleep do we do if we're still shit by Xmas :nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting:
 

TwanYid

Well-Known Member
Aug 1, 2013
1,223
3,484
I know this has obviously been covered here, but can someone do me a favor and tell me what (specific) position (if any) this guy plays? From everything I heard at first it was simple: he was/is a Defensive Midfielder, a destroyer- yet one who can pick a pass. Then, however, I read that both him and Ward-Prouse- together- both played both CM roles for Southampton; i.e., that the two were either Holding or B2B’ers, depending upon the situation.

So which is it- is he a DM or a B2B? I was set on the fact that he was a direct Wanyama replacement- a guy who sits in front of the back 4, busts up plays and quickly gets the ball out to the creative players, but now looking at his highlights I see him going forward a lot.

I’m confused.
 
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