Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

[Ghost Hardware]

I said this last night but I do think its a really important point going forward. Yesterday we fielded a midfield 5 of Gio, Skipp, PEH, Royal and Davies. Gio aside that is an incredibly technically limited selection of players. Now if you put one or two of those players alongside Udogie, Porro, Biss, Sarr or Maddison then they will do absolutely fine but once they are all on the pitch together (excluding Gio regardless if you rate him or not) you are left with a midfield that is neither comfortable on the ball or able to pass with any real dynamism. Essentially all it will do is expose their limitations. It was a big misstep form Ange to field that team IMO and it didn't do anyone any favours. My opinions on PEH haven't really changed. He's a player not entirely suited to our system but i think he would still do a good job through the season as a back up/rotation option but only if he's not surrounded by other technically limited players. Long term tho I think he needs upgrading for a player that is more agile and dynamic. Personally i'd like to see us bring in a youth player like Redondo rather then spending big on more established player if/when PEH leaves.

 

[mil1lion]

It's clear he's good when next to the more composed Bissouma or Bentancur. When he's the one to rely on to control midfield he's very poor. Same for Skipp really, you need them to be in midfield with one of those as the pivot. It allows them to be a bit free and press forward more.

 

[Danny1]

If United are serious about buying him then it is a no brainer.

 

[Ben1]

It's clear he's good when next to the more composed Bissouma or Bentancur. When he's the one to rely on to control midfield he's very poor. Same for Skipp really, you need them to be in midfield with one of those as the pivot. It allows them to be a bit free and press forward more.

Think we have 5-6 old guard players that are totally fine seperately entering the line up, but clearly can’t all play together and will probably be gradually phased out

 

[rossdapep]

If United are serious about buying him then it is a no brainer.

Yeah I can't understand way people are saying "dont strengthen a rival" when it allows us to get a player in that suits Ange's style more and probably makes us more dynamic.

United will have an ageing Casemiro, Eriksen and a limited Hojbjerg in their midfield...its hardly strengthening

 

[Tucker]

Yeah I can't understand way people are saying "dont strengthen a rival" when it allows us to get a player in that suits Ange's style more and probably makes us more dynamic.

United will have an ageing Casemiro, Eriksen and a limited Hojbjerg in their midfield...its hardly strengthening

I think people are worried that it addresses a glaring hole they have, but I’m not sure he does anything for them McTomminay doesn’t. They need a player like we are after, that can take the ball on the turn and move them up the pitch a bit.

 

[Rosco1984]

people go on about winning mentalities and hojbjerg being a warrior. I am sorry but a losers mentality is to blame others for your own mistakes so you never accept responsibility and improve on your own deficiencies. Hojbjerg is the number one culprit in our squad and I wouldnt be surprised to see things quickly kick on once him and dier are out of the building.

 

[rossdapep]

I think people are worried that it addresses a glaring hole they have, but I’m not sure he does anything for them McTomminay doesn’t. They need a player like we are after, that can take the ball on the turn and move them up the pitch a bit.

Exactly.

I watched them against Forest and Hojbjerg would not have added anything they dont already have.

They spent large periods with the ball breaking down defence and we know he isnt the player for that

 

[Tucker]

Exactly.

I watched them against Forest and Hojbjerg would not have added anything they dont already have.

They spent large periods with the ball breaking down defence and we know he isnt the player for that

I don’t think they’ll buy him anyway tbh. If they do it points to a problem with ETH only wanting to work with players he’s had previous experience with, which feels like it will go wrong eventually.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

if he stays as a starting player for us he is finished.. hope we sell him played like he didn`t care today

Not a strong performance, but I would level that at everyone who started. If the team looks flat, everyone in it looks flat. To say he wasn't good enough is possibly fair. To say he played like he didn't care is not only harsh but simply untrue. He's one of the last players in the squad who should be accused of not caring.

I'm not denying that Hojbjerg was part of the problem last night. A CM pairing of Hojbjerg and Skipp was never going to allow us to play the same as in the first three PL games. If one of them had start alongside either Sarr or Bissouma, the team performance would have been very different and whichever of Hojbjerg or Skipp started would have looked better.

Once Bentancur is back, we'll have three decent CMs who fit the system properly for Ange to rotate between, so Hojbjerg can be restricted to the role of helping us to calmly close out games late on (as he has clearly done effectively in the PL this season). If we sell Hojbjerg without replacing him, I'm unsure who could do a similar job coming off the bench. It's not something I would trust Skipp with in the same way. Assuming Sarr is the one to make way for Bentancur, that's not what he brings to the midfield either.

 

[qqq1]

Even if he strengthens United in the short term I think he'll clog up their squad in the longer term. Next summer they'd have a 32 year old Casemiro and a 29 year old Hojbjerg.

We should sell him now while he still has value. We aren't in Europe this year so don't need a huge squad. It's better to get players out if we can so we aren't stuck needing to sell before we can buy again next year.

 

[sidford]

Ornstein now reporting that man u are chasing amrabat on loan and he's their top target. Makes a lot more sense imo than hojberg. Madrid don't have cash so assume he's staying which I'm not completely against but may mean someone else will leave who we might have been planning on keeping

 

[GioW]

Imagine this will put an end to Uniteds interest in Hojbjerg

 

[Duskwen]

If they can only sign Amrabat on loan cause of FFP, they would never have been able to get PEH, we want a sale from him

 

[Montalbano]

This was posted last season, but it’s spot on.

So often Hojberg will panic on the ball and will alleviate himself of fault by playing a suicide pass to a teammate.

When they then go on to lose the ball due to receiving the ball in a position where they shouldn’t have, Hojberg will then throw up his arms at them in disgust. As if it wasn’t his fault in the first place.

This guy is brilliant. Pretty much every opinion I’ve seen from him regarding teams across the league is spot on.

 

[Guntz]

Loan FC

 

[YiddoInPoland]

Loans loans loans

 

[bbunc]

Loan FC

Awesome. Can’t wait to see which player we terminate this window once we exceed the 7 loan limit.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Pointless loaning Hojbjerg, surely. His fee is only going down after a year at Atletico as he'll ony have a year left on his contract at the end of it.

 

[razzmaster]

Has to be a loan with obligation otherwise it would be pointless