Pierre-Emile Højbjerg - Player Thread | Page 4 | Vital Football

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg - Player Thread

muttley said:
I can imagine the scene now. Son and Moura are caught cheating their defensive duties and the opposition scores with Sissoko caught out on the right wing and Aurier caught walking back as the ball hits the net.

Hojberg loses the plot Roy Keane style with the 4 of them and needs constraining by Kane, Lloris, Davies and Dier.

It won't happen a second time :-)
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I think you’re getting a bit carried away there Mutters....let’s see if he can play football first....just as a reference, Dier has always done loads of talking while forgetting to do his own job...we don’t need another one.
 
How good is he really?

This weekend I spoke with an old coaching friend who's been with the Saints for a while now, his verdict: (his words are word for word):

"we'd often play him as a b2b player, which he just isn't, but play him in a defensive role who can get forward occasionally and you've got a hell of a player, he has great awareness, excellent timing and a part of his game that surprises a lot of opponents is that he has genuine pace and can pick a pass. (then in response to a further question from me): His best attribute is for a slight player he has tremendous physical strength."
and then a bit more:

"Jose will use him at the base of his three in a 4-3-3 because that's how you get the best our of him, he is a tremendous player and will make a huge impact at Spurs".

Apart from seeing him against us in the FA cup games last season, I really know little about him and have rarely watched him, but have to say if this guy is right about him, we have stolen him from them.

I was pointed to his stats and I think someone else has already mentioned this, last season He was the PL's top player for ball recoveries with 510...

..does make me wonder what sort of difference this will make to us under Jose?
 
Spursex said:
How good is he really?

This weekend I spoke with an old coaching friend who's been with the Saints for a while now, his verdict: (his words are word for word):

"we'd often play him as a b2b player, which he just isn't, but play him in a defensive role who can get forward occasionally and you've got a hell of a player, he has great awareness, excellent timing and a part of his game that surprises a lot of opponents is that he has genuine pace and can pick a pass. (then in response to a further question from me): His best attribute is for a slight player he has tremendous physical strength."
and then a bit more:

"Jose will use him at the base of his three in a 4-3-3 because that's how you get the best our of him, he is a tremendous player and will make a huge impact at Spurs".

Apart from seeing him against us in the FA cup games last season, I really know little about him and have rarely watched him, but have to say if this guy is right about him, we have stolen him from them.

I was pointed to his stats and I think someone else has already mentioned this, last season He was the PL's top player for ball recoveries with 510...

..does make me wonder what sort of difference this will make to us under Jose?
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Very interesting EX...like you I haven’t seen him play enough to form an opinion so this input sounds reassuring....maybe Jose is considering moving Sissoko to RB where he has pace, strength, height and a more defined role and as your friend says play PEH as the base of a 433 with LoCo and ND (if he stays) when he wants to go on the offensive, or pair with Winks in the centre of. 442 when playing defensive?
 
Harry-Kari said:
Very interesting EX...like you I haven’t seen him play enough to form an opinion so this input sounds reassuring....maybe Jose is considering moving Sissoko to RB where he has pace, strength, height and a more defined role and as your friend says play PEH as the base of a 433 with LoCo and ND (if he stays) when he wants to go on the offensive, or pair with Winks in the centre of. 442 when playing defensive?
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well I think we all know that Jose's career preference across all the clubs he managed was a 4-3-3 and in fairness to Poch, I can also see why Poch was so sold on him, but 4-3-3 is Jose's no.1. line-up and without a player that can hold that base i.e. cut out attacks and see them early for interventions it would struggle at Spurs to see it work without a non-stop press a la Poch.

I can't see him repositioning Sissoko to RB as a solution but I wouldn't mind betting he could see him as a back up.

IF we can somehow hold onto N'Dom and get him focused, alongside LoCo we'd have a midfield the stuff of dreams.
 
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Greavswasthegreatest said:
It won't take long I betcha....as we currently do not have a leader in any shape or form...not as if he will be ousting anyone currently doing that role...
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Well I think he has 3 players firmly his senior from the off, whether we consider them "leaders" or not. Lloris is a world cup winner and one of our longest serving players, Kane is one of the best strikers in the world and a proper Spurs boy and Dier is being trained to lead by Mourinho and is also a long serving player for us.

I'm confident he will be quite the player for us, but I am also worried we will instantly become over-reliant on him and get caught out from a lack of backup in his role.
 
Jesus Christ give the lad a chance.

Nobody on here has said he is a top class talent. But evidence shows he has a skill set our current lot do not have. Leadership qualities, positional awareness and an aggression that can help our more creative players.

We have many players on the books that have done sweet fuck all in years. But lets target a guy who hasn't even kicked a competitive ball for us yet.
 
Real Deal said:
Jesus Christ give the lad a chance.

Nobody on here has said he is a top class talent. But evidence shows he has a skill set our current lot do not have. Leadership qualities, positional awareness and an aggression that can help our more creative players.

We have many players on the books that have done sweet fuck all in years. But lets target a guy who hasn't even kicked a competitive ball for us yet.
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Of course he will be given a chance, but on the little evidence from his previous club and the pre-Season performances he has to improve big time.

I’m not sure about his positional awareness either, but we will have to see once the real action starts....but he’s no ND 😀
 
Harry-Kari said:
Of course he will be given a chance, but on the little evidence from his previous club and the pre-Season performances he has to improve big time.

I’m not sure about his positional awareness either, but we will have to see once the real action starts....but he’s no ND 😀
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I think there was plenty of evidence of his qualities at Southampton.

The highest tackles in the league in the final third of the pitch last season. Plenty of good positional awareness scenario's, tackles. He has showed leadership qualities in many games.

He isn't a spectacular player he is a no nonsense CM/DM type player. For him to flourish he will need Lo Celso, Dele as his partners. I'm not going to even bother hoping Ndombele will be one of them because he won't play much under Jose.

The thought of him and Sissoko together is not a pleasant thought though. We must get the creative players fit and ready. Otherwise it will be another long boring and uninspiring season.
 
pjones40 said:
I just wanted to see him.up against England midfield. I have not seen anything to change what I think of him and was hoping I would see it last night
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He really came on to shore up their midfield when for a while it looked like we were dominating, then (whether his influence or not) he came on, they changed their shape and they looked more secure aganst our imporving movement, which they'd worked like dogs to close us down and so his legs really just gave them some respite.

I couldn't draw any conclusions of the 15 mins or so he was on the pitch.
 
Spursex said:
He really came on to shore up their midfield when for a while it looked like we were dominating, then (whether his influence or not) he came on, they changed their shape and they looked more secure aganst our imporving movement, which they'd worked like dogs to close us down and so his legs really just gave them some respite.

I couldn't draw any conclusions of the 15 mins or so he was on the pitch.
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England still had there best chance of the game after he came on. I must be in the minority because I just cannot see anything that makes me think he can be more than the Danish Stefan Freund
 
pjones40 said:
England still had there best chance of the game after he came on. I must be in the minority because I just cannot see anything that makes me think he can be more than the Danish Stefan Freund
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You could be right, but until we see him in situ, I think it's too hard to decide what difference he might make, as so much may depend on our line-up and tactics, personally, if it means Sissoko sitting on the bench, for me it can only be a good thing.

Let's judge him as the season unfolds.
 
Spursex said:
You could be right, but until we see him in situ, I think it's too hard to decide what difference he might make, as so much may depend on our line-up and tactics, personally, if it means Sissoko sitting on the bench, for me it can only be a good thing.

Let's judge him as the season unfolds.
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Sissoko was selected for France who beat Croatia 4-2 and played the whole 90 minutes. He has fooled the French national team as well. Or maybe.....?
 
Nick Real Deal said:
Sissoko was selected for France who beat Croatia 4-2 and played the whole 90 minutes. He has fooled the French national team as well. Or maybe.....?
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Pleased for him, in teh french team he has so many good player around him, he can keep it simple and isn't allowed to run with the ball, he passed and hits people with his body if he has to (watch the game) he plays deeper - why we don't do that with him has always been a mystery to me, in fairness he's scored a couple of decent goals for us since his move into the middle, but 90% of the time, he losses all his composure and ability when he gets near their box or the ball has been at his feet for longer than 10 seconds - he loses the ball time and time again in positions you just shouldn't.

He is our nearly man, nearly good at everything, but not good enough at anything.
 
Spursex said:
Pleased for him, in teh french team he has so many good player around him, he can keep it simple and isn't allowed to run with the ball, he passed and hits people with his body if he has to (watch the game) he plays deeper - why we don't do that with him has always been a mystery to me, in fairness he's scored a couple of decent goals for us since his move into the middle, but 90% of the time, he losses all his composure and ability when he gets near their box or the ball has been at his feet for longer than 10 seconds - he loses the ball time and time again in positions you just shouldn't.

He is our nearly man, nearly good at everything, but not good enough at anything.
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But good enough for the French team.
 
Nick Real Deal said:
But good enough for the French team.
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As I said, he has so many really good player to do the simple stuff for him, and so he is just a useful big lump for the French and they can use that when they have so many skillful players. For us, he's just a big normally unuseful lump.
 
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