Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

[tobi]

@joey55 I'm fine with selling 'big' players to generate significant funds as long as it's not Ndombele.

There is no one like him in the league and I'd rather sell others who have been here for years, coasted through each season because they've stagnated or just aren't good enough.

I'm not sure about Højbjerg, he's an upgrade on the position right now and is decent on the ball. I've never paid attention to his positioning and tackling ability.

 

[emiley heskey]

Selling Ndombele and replacing him with a DM only still leaves a big hole in midfield because we'd be back to the problem of only having one player (Lo Celso = Eriksen) in midfield capable of passing the ball.

We are not buying Hojberg for Ndombele's replacement .. he is coming here as wanyama and dier replacement. We replaced dembele with ndombele and eriksen with lo celso ....

 

[tobi]

We are not buying Hojberg for Ndombele's replacement .. he is coming here as wanyama and dier replacement. We replaced dembele with ndombele and eriksen with lo celso ....

The Ndombele stuff is a reference to a previous post.

 

[Timberwolf]

Just had a look on Saintsweb and, while there are certainly some fans who won't miss him, they are more positive about him than this thread would suggest:

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I like Hojbjerg. If I had the choice, I’d want him to stay - but if he does leave - I’m curious to see how he does.

Hojbjerg is getting a lot of stick on this forum, but for the role he plays he is very effective. Among the best ball winning stats for central midfielders in the league.

(In response to the City link) Wouldn't surprise me. He's a very good player on his day, and Pep was a big fan at Munich.

I like him too. I get the Pep link & I get that they need more legs with Fernandinho getting older. Win-win for us if it’s true.

Not sure why City is surprising. They need extra energy is midfield, he's great at pressing, getting the ball back. Pep will think he can improve him. Not all their players need to be stars, they need a team. Plus he's an experienced prem player at a reasonable price due to his contract. Fernandinho is approaching the end of his career, they only really have Rodri for that role and have to manage 60 odd games a season.

Spurs fans don’t seem excited at all by it, can’t blame them. But I do actually think he’d be good for them, he’s a Mourinho type player, a brute who covers a lot of ground. At Spurs he’ll have the quality around him to allow him to just run around and battle, we don’t have that so his shortcomings are there to see.

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In fairness, there are also plenty of posts saying his distribution is shit, they won't miss him, etc etc. Just thought I'd show that it isn't all doom and gloom, though.

 

[Japhet]

Just playing devil's advocate. Everyone says he'll work because he's played in the Prem, but for us especially, that hasn't always been the case.

For the record I'd be perfectly happy with this. We need a worker who can win the ball and give it to our forwards. Right now we have two players who don't win the ball and when they do just pass to each other or the fullbacks.

In all fairness, I think our CM players often lack passing options. When thre are 2 players in CM there aren't many angles open to them (particularly if they're outnumbered in there), and this becomes infinitely worse when the front line are as static as our's has been for so long. Passing sideways and backwards are very often the only sensible choices and I don't think Hojbjerg would find things any different if we continue along the same lines. The obvious answer is to deploy 3 in CM, and when we've done that things seem to run much smoother. I think Hojbjerg could be very good in a CM but not so much in a CM2, which puts him in exactly the same bracket as Lo Celso, Winks, Sissoko, Skipp and probably Ndombele if he ever gets on the pitch.

 

[joey55]

@joey55 I'm fine with selling 'big' players to generate significant funds as long as it's not Ndombele.

There is no one like him in the league and I'd rather sell others who have been here for years, coasted through each season because they've stagnated or just aren't good enough.

I'm not sure about Højbjerg, he's an upgrade on the position right now and is decent on the ball. I've never paid attention to his positioning and tackling ability.

In a normal window I'd agree with you. But I think to sign the players of the quality we need, I think we are going to need funds beyond which we'd raise by selling the likes of Winks or Sissoko. I suspect it's all irrelevant and that we'll end up with PEH, who is far from bad. But if we do want a DM that has truly top class potential and we've got limited funds, then we are going to have to sell players who have value, though haven't made an impact. The way I see it, if it's true that Barca or PSG would give us our money back for NDombele and we can then sign Luis, I think we've got little choice. I just don' think we are going to get too many big money offers for Lamela or even Ali. I wouldn't consider selling Gio, Kane or Son. Other than that, if you look at our squad, it's not it's all it's cracked up to be and I think people would be shocked at the lack of interest in our players. 3 years ago virtually every club in the Prem would have liked Dembele, Rose, Walker, Verts, Toby, Eriksen and so on. Now, despite continually being told how good our squad is by the pundits, it really doesn't have much to tempt the clubs with big pockets.

 

[dondo]

You know given 1/2 an hour I could find a dozen posts saying saying every one of our players is useless or basicaly finished on this forum too.

Jose has always seen the DM position as critical and you only have to look back to see who he's bought or used regularly to see he knows this role inside and out. Chances are he'll tweak whoever we get in to play the way he wants, so how he's being used elsewhere isnt as important as whether Jose see's him as the right fit.

Is he a Jose classic DM? Not sure he is even a DM

 

[roy@SC]

Just had a look on Saintsweb and, while there are certainly some fans who won't miss him, they are more positive about him than this thread would suggest:

--------

I like Hojbjerg. If I had the choice, I’d want him to stay - but if he does leave - I’m curious to see how he does.

Hojbjerg is getting a lot of stick on this forum, but for the role he plays he is very effective. Among the best ball winning stats for central midfielders in the league.

(In response to the City link) Wouldn't surprise me. He's a very good player on his day, and Pep was a big fan at Munich.

I like him too. I get the Pep link & I get that they need more legs with Fernandinho getting older. Win-win for us if it’s true.

Not sure why City is surprising. They need extra energy is midfield, he's great at pressing, getting the ball back. Pep will think he can improve him. Not all their players need to be stars, they need a team. Plus he's an experienced prem player at a reasonable price due to his contract. Fernandinho is approaching the end of his career, they only really have Rodri for that role and have to manage 60 odd games a season.

Spurs fans don’t seem excited at all by it, can’t blame them. But I do actually think he’d be good for them, he’s a Mourinho type player, a brute who covers a lot of ground. At Spurs he’ll have the quality around him to allow him to just run around and battle, we don’t have that so his shortcomings are there to see.

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In fairness, there are also plenty of posts saying his distribution is shit, they won't miss him, etc etc. Just thought I'd show that it isn't all doom and gloom, though.

Basically that makes him sound like everything we don't currently have in midfield. Teams have played straight through is for fun since the dembele wanyama partnership broke up. We desperately need to address that.

 

[Montalbano]

In a normal window I'd agree with you. But I think to sign the players of the quality we need, I think we are going to need funds beyond which we'd raise by selling the likes of Winks or Sissoko. I suspect it's all irrelevant and that we'll end up with PEH, who is far from bad. But if we do want a DM that has truly top class potential and we've got limited funds, then we are going to have to sell players who have value, though haven't made an impact. The way I see it, if it's true that Barca or PSG would give us our money back for NDombele and we can then sign Luis, I think we've got little choice. I just don' think we are going to get too many big money offers for Lamela or even Ali. I wouldn't consider selling Gio, Kane or Son. Other than that, if you look at our squad, it's not it's all it's cracked up to be and I think people would be shocked at the lack of interest in our players. 3 years ago virtually every club in the Prem would have liked Dembele, Rose, Walker, Verts, Toby, Eriksen and so on. Now, despite continually being told how good our squad is by the pundits, it really doesn't have much to tempt the clubs with big pockets.

While I agree he has potential, Luis has done little to suggest he’s currently top class and would probably be a project like Gedson. He hasn’t featured in Liga NOS since November and doesn’t usually make their 20 player match day squad.

I really wish that we go all in on Declan Rice and raise the necessary funds through player transactions. I think Jose will want to keep Lucas, but Lamela, Sissoko, Foyth, Aurier, Rose, and KWP are all non-core assets that can help us increase our transfer kitty.

If we want to unlock Lo Celso and Ndombele in midfield, Jose is likely going to want a destroyer that will provide balance in the midfield. I am not confident that Jose will think PEH can provide enough balance to get GLC and Ndombele in the same side. Zakaria is a good shout as well, and I think as a strong, physical player he’ll adapt to the EPL fairly quickly.

 

[Mr Pink]

Jose wants a particular skill set with the right type of character. So what the same player brings to one side can be more valuable and needed than in another.

If it was simple as crunching a few stats and reading a few fans opinions any lunatic could work at a football Club lol.

 

[joey55]

While I agree he has potential, Luis has done little to suggest he’s currently top class and would probably be a project like Gedson. He hasn’t featured in Liga NOS since November and doesn’t usually make their 20 player match day squad.

That's because he's been injured. He's a different kettle of fish to Gedson, who just seems like an odd signing. If Luis was to leave, there would be no shortage of takers and he certainly wouldn't be available on an 18 month loan.

Luis is making 4.1 interceptions and 2.9 tackles per game whilst playing for Benfica. To have ball winning stats like that is impressive when you play for a lower team, that doesn't have so much possession. But when you are doing it at a club that dominates possession, that's seriously impressive. You have to have a natural knack for winning the ball to put up numbers like that.

You could argue that he hasn't played much, so the stats mean little, however, he did the same last season and in European competition his stats are even more impressive.

Over the last 2 years in the Europa League, he's played 4 games and made 23 tackles! He's played 2 CL games and made 12 tackles. That means in 6 European games, he's averaged 6 tackles per game. There is no doubt he has a special talent for winning the ball. When you watch him play he's got a style that is really similar to Kante, like his legs are a magnet to the ball.

In his one EL game this season he played away at Shakhtar. He made 10 tackles, 5 interceptions and 52 passes with an accuracy of 94%. To me, he just seems like the perfect Mourinho DM and looks made for the PL.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Southampton fans are some of the most bitter pricks when it comes to their players leaving.

I seem to recall them all agreeing immediately after the Liverpool saga that Van Dijk was nothing short of a donkey who’d won a competition off of the back of a corn flakes box to play for them.

As a general rule of thumb, if a poster on saintsweb says one of their outgoing players is shit, they actually mean the opposite.

 

[Montalbano]

That's because he's been injured. He's a different kettle of fish to Gedson, who just seems like an odd signing. If Luis was to leave, there would be no shortage of takers and he certainly wouldn't be available on an 18 month loan.

Luis is making 4.1 interceptions and 2.9 tackles per game whilst playing for Benfica. To have ball winning stats like that is impressive when you play for a lower team, that doesn't have so much possession. But when you are doing it at a club that dominates possession, that's seriously impressive. You have to have a natural knack for winning the ball to put up numbers like that.

You could argue that he hasn't played much, so the stats mean little, however, he did the same last season and in European competition his stats are even more impressive.

Over the last 2 years in the Europa League, he's played 4 games and made 23 tackles! He's played 2 CL games and made 12 tackles. That means in 6 European games, he's averaged 6 tackles per game. There is no doubt he has a special talent for winning the ball. When you watch him play he's got a style that is really similar to Kante, like his legs are a magnet to the ball.

In his one EL game this season he played away at Shakhtar. He made 10 tackles, 5 interceptions and 52 passes with an accuracy of 94%. To me, he just seems like the perfect Mourinho DM and looks made for the PL.

Really? Transfermarkt shows he hasn’t been injured since late October. I had seen things about him having a rift with Bruno Lage, but now Verissimo is their manager and he’s still not getting a look in. I agree he’s a good player, and he might be having a Ndombele-esque situation with Benfica, but I just think he might be a bit of a gamble as our first choice DM for a Mourinho team.

 

[Cornpattbuck]

Is he a Jose classic DM? Not sure he is even a DM

Bit of Matic about him isn't there?

 

[DiVaio]

That's because he's been injured. He's a different kettle of fish to Gedson, who just seems like an odd signing. If Luis was to leave, there would be no shortage of takers and he certainly wouldn't be available on an 18 month loan.

He isn't injured. He is available for 18 month loan and he's linked more with mid-table clubs than top

 

[GetSpurredOn]

I do think we need two DM’s, Hojberg looks semi nailed on, and the try to add any one of Luis (first choice), Sangare, Keupmeiner or Paulinha. All offer a level of physicality we miss outside of Sissoko, but with arguably more technical ability. Any two of them and suddenly the likes of Winks, Ndombele plus fullbacks will looks whole lot better.
I’d sacrifice Sissoko and Lamela, try and replace Lamela with Fraser or Willian on a free to balance the books if we have to.

 

[joey55]

Really? Transfermarkt shows he hasn’t been injured since late October. I had seen things about him having a rift with Bruno Lage, but now Verissimo is their manager and he’s still not getting a look in. I agree he’s a good player, and he might be having a Ndombele-esque situation with Benfica, but I just think he might be a bit of a gamble as our first choice DM for a Mourinho team.

I think you are right. I assumed he'd been injured as he hasn't even been in squads.

 

[GetSpurredOn]

Luis on loan with an option, similar to Gedson, would be an ideal upgrade of our squad.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

What is to stop is selling other players to fill other gaps? If we don't have much of a transfer budget, we are going to have to be creative.

I really like Lo Celso as a CM. To be honest I was against us signing him, as I didn't think he offered enough as an attacking play maker. He scored a few penalties which skewed his stats a bit. But in terms of chance creation, he only made 0.8 per game at Betis, which is nowhere near enough to replace Eriksen. As it turns out, for us, he's played deeper, which I think he did as PSG and I think he's been excellent. He's got everything you'd want in a creative CM, as he works hard, is aggressive, can pass, dribble, is quite quick and will eventually chip in with goals. I see him as playing the role we signed NDombele for.

Just a quick one on Lo Celso, of his 16 goals last season only 2 were penalties mate, so no real skewing of stats.

I also think he will create a lot more in a better side with good movement. Give him attacking fullbacks and wing forwards in patterns of play and he will be able to play a David Silva type role for us.

We definitely need a mobile DM to provide a platform though.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

I would tend to agree but this is the sort of business we've always done. This isn't too different than signing Wanyama for 12m because he had a low release clause and him being a key player for us. Who is to say with new fullbacks, PEH and a backup striker that we arent contending for top spots? We will always live within our means in the market and hope for the best.

Spot on.
Just a shame if covid hits us really hard as we were starting to open up the purse strings but let’s hope we can pull off some clever signings and really push on under Jose next year.