Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

[Finney Is Back]

Did it for their second goal and left his man and didn't get back into position to help the team.
Infuriating!

Always interesting when somebody wants to find a way to blame a specific player for a goal even when their actions have little, if any, bearing.

We had six players (seven including the the keeper) to Southampton’s three in our penalty area. The goal gets scored because Eric Dier is a poor centre back and possibly the only centre back in the premier league who would retreat to his goal line when a cross comes into the area instead of picking up the opposition’s free man who ended up scoring the goal. There should’ve been zero danger from that cross coming in with us being 6 against 3 and 5 of those goal side of their 3. If Dier does his job (and it is just simple centre back play) then we remain 3-1 up.

Even from my seat at the stadium I could see him retreating to the line instead of picking up Walcott and knew we were then in trouble with a simple header back across the goal.

 

[Grays_1890]

How’s that working out for your mate with them likely to be relegated?

Hojbjerg has been one of our best three or four players this season.

I would say their woes come from sacking a perfectly good manager and replacing him with a 15 year old narcissist rather than PEH keeping them up

Played every game regardless of form in a team absolutely panned by the manager on Saturday after a horror show, a team with Son and Deki dropping off a cliff.....Bravo him

Bentancur is better than him by some distance and Skipp has been better than him in recent weeks when getting up to speed, I would use that as his natural barometer than Southampton going down three seasons after he left

 

[Finney Is Back]

I would say their woes come from sacking a perfectly good manager and replacing him with a 15 year old narcissist rather than PEH keeping them up

Played every game regardless of form in a team absolutely panned by the manager on Saturday after a horror show, a team with Son and Deki dropping off a cliff.....Bravo him

Bentancur is better than him by some distance and Skipp has been better than him in recent weeks when getting up to speed, I would use that as his natural barometer than Southampton going down three seasons after he left

‘Played every game’ may tell you why his performances may not be as good now as earlier in the season. It probably also tells you that the current manager (and the one before, and the one before) thinks he is in the best two CMs we have at the club.

We drew that game on Saturday because Dier doesn’t do the basics of defending and we got an horribly wrong penalty decision made against us that VAR should’ve overturned. Yet, again, people on here want to blame one of our 2 CMs who are general;y outnumbered in the middle because the manager hides away our poor centre backs in a 3.

 

[Grays_1890]

‘Played every game’ may tell you why his performances may not be as good now as earlier in the season. It probably also tells you that the current manager (and the one before, and the one before) thinks he is in the best two CMs we have at the club.

We drew that game on Saturday because Dier doesn’t do the basics of defending and we got an horribly wrong penalty decision made against us that VAR should’ve overturned. Yet, again, people on here want to blame one of our 2 CMs who are general;y outnumbered in the middle because the manager hides away our poor centre backs in a 3.

Haha, I am not blaming the two centre midfielders for Saturday, I am saying he had a poor game, because he did, Skipp was better. In fact not on any thread have I blamed PEH for the result don't mean he was any good

You complain about the lack of quality in the squad in strong terms, maybe thats the reason he gets picked without fail? Maybe its because the younger players with potential higher ceilings were injured along with our number one CM that he played so much or the manager does not plump for youth, could be that he rates him like you say but then again he played Son and others through rank form without any real rational judgement so I don't know.

Interestingly, seeing as you mention Dier and Conte judgement, Conte called Dier one of the best defenders in the world, so Im not sure that his judgement is always without question

If you think we can't improve on PEH thats fine, I think we can very easily

 

[Finney Is Back]

Haha, I am not blaming the two centre midfielders for Saturday, I am saying he had a poor game, because he did, Skipp was better. In fact not on any thread have I blamed PEH for the result don't mean he was any good

You complain about the lack of quality in the squad in strong terms, maybe thats the reason he gets picked without fail? Maybe its because the younger players with potential higher ceilings were injured along with our number one CM that he played so much or the manager does not plump for youth, could be that he rates him like you say but then again he played Son and others through rank form without any real rational judgement so I don't know

If you think we can't improve on PEH thats fine, I think we can very easily

I think we could improve on PEH but it will cost quite a lot of money and our not huge resources need to be put to far better use buying a keeper and one or two centre backs (depending on whether we keep Conte and/or what system our next manager wants to play) as well as a creative, attacking midfield player (again depending on whether Conte stays and/or next manager’s preferred game plan).

 

[papaspur]

PEH has good games but he's inconsistent and he is not a leader. His main weakness IMO is tracking back. He does it sometimes but it's too rare. We don't really need an upgrade as I'm fine with him being a squad player. I'd be happy with Bentancur and Skipp, with Bissouma and Sarr rotating regularly with them. Would rather focus on improving on Dier and a new GK.
Perisic was poor too, but we have Udogie coming in for next season. It was unfortunate that Davies got injured as it seemed like things were working just fine. Of course, Perisic scored but it's a bit of a wash if he's going to invite them to do the same.

 

[Yiddo]

You only need to watch him off of the ball to see he isn’t good enough. He scored the occasional goal and plays a good pass now and again but he is one of the reasons we can’t keep the ball. He does absolutely nothing defensively and he is supposed to be the protector. The guy is not good enough to be playing for this team. He is not the only one.

 

[Finney Is Back]

You only need to watch him off of the ball to see he isn’t good enough. He scored the occasional goal and plays a good pass now and again but he is one of the reasons we can’t keep the ball. He does absolutely nothing defensively and he is supposed to be the protector. The guy is not good enough to be playing for this team. He is not the only one.

He isn't supposed to be the protector, we don't play with one. We play with 3 CBs and a double pivot. When you play with 3 centre backs you don't also play a 'protector'. Teams that play with two centre backs may play with such a player (though some still play a double pivot even with 2 at the back). To play 3 at the back and deploy a protector in front of them means you are effectively playing with 4 out and out central defenders and leaving yourself short in other areas of the pitch.

 

[Yiddo]

He isn't supposed to be the protector, we don't play with one. We play with 3 CBs and a double pivot. When you play with 3 centre backs you don't also play a 'protector'. Teams that play with two centre backs may play with such a player (though some still play a double pivot even with 2 at the back). To play 3 at the back and deploy a protector in front of them means you are effectively playing with 4 out and out central defenders and leaving yourself short in other areas of the pitch.

Isn’t that what we have been doing anyway? We seems to play with 8 defenders nowadays and non of them seem capable of doing yhst correctly.

 

[papaspur]

For me, playing with 3 CBs and 2 CMs means the lines are a bit blurred with responsibilities, with and without the ball. In possession, the wider CBs can push up to support and bolster numbers in midfield.

One main problem this season has been losing possession so cheaply due to dogbrick passing. Our CBs can sometimes be guilty of this, just hoofing the ball up under minimal pressure, or even passing back to the keeper, who then has to hoof it upfield himself. Romero is the best of the bunch as he's willing to take the responsibility to play it out calmly. Either way, it's a safety-first approach but at least our team is already in a more defensive posture.

However, when we lose possession in a more offensive shape (i.e., not while hoofing the ball up from the back) to gift the other team a counterattack is when we create big problems for ourselves. PEH does give the ball away at times in midfield in dangerous positions, and thus he needs to hustle to get back but is often just jogging. If he loses the ball after getting tackled, he's more likely to appeal to the ref than to start tracking back. I'm surprised that throughout his time here under Mourinho and Conte, neither of them coached that trait out. I don't mention Nuno as his time was so limited here.

To reiterate, I think PEH was great when he first transferred here but maybe due to starting almost every match, his self-valuation has gone up and he thinks he can get by with less work as he's going to start the next match anyway.

 

[Grays_1890]

PEH has good games but he's inconsistent and he is not a leader. His main weakness IMO is tracking back. He does it sometimes but it's too rare. We don't really need an upgrade as I'm fine with him being a squad player. I'd be happy with Bentancur and Skipp, with Bissouma and Sarr rotating regularly with them. Would rather focus on improving on Dier and a new GK.
Perisic was poor too, but we have Udogie coming in for next season. It was unfortunate that Davies got injured as it seemed like things were working just fine. Of course, Perisic scored but it's a bit of a wash if he's going to invite them to do the same.

The issues I have with him is the times he is on his heels, gets robbed and or jogs back, loves to point and shout but not always someone that keeps his own high standards.

Man United, ball was at his feet, picked off and didn't even try to get back when they scored, happened at Leicester....Southampton when he stuck a half hearted leg out and was skipped by and they nearly scored at 2-3...

Too many of these moments for someone who is meant to be a breaker of play...he seems to be broken on too much

Sent from my SM-A127F using Fapatalk

 

[seaside spur]

Always interesting when somebody wants to find a way to blame a specific player for a goal even when their actions have little, if any, bearing.

We had six players (seven including the the keeper) to Southampton’s three in our penalty area. The goal gets scored because Eric Dier is a poor centre back and possibly the only centre back in the premier league who would retreat to his goal line when a cross comes into the area instead of picking up the opposition’s free man who ended up scoring the goal. There should’ve been zero danger from that cross coming in with us being 6 against 3 and 5 of those goal side of their 3. If Dier does his job (and it is just simple centre back play) then we remain 3-1 up.

Even from my seat at the stadium I could see him retreating to the line instead of picking up Walcott and knew we were then in trouble with a simple header back across the goal.

I absolutely agree , I made that observation myself , two on two at the back post but we got outfought and outjumped there which left FOUR plus the keeper against Theo fudging Walcott who couldn't score in a brothel and none of them picked him up including Dier who ran away from him to the goaline. It was unforgivable defending to give Walcott an unmissable chance BUT that doesn't excuse Holbjerg putting his hand up and appealing to the ref for handball or a foul or a change in wind direction or whatever it was and letting the man right next to him, run away from him and fail to get back into the area as he might have been the one that did pick up Walcott.
Unacceptable and unprofessional and he does it all the time. Perhaps he thought that even though I'm right next to him I'm so slow i won't catch him anyway or maybe he just couldn't be arsed.
The only think he should be putting his hand up for is to take responsibility as a senior player on the pitch and he failed to do that.

 

[Benny_Lad]

Interesting comments from PEH.

"I think we've all seen it. Very honest and very open press conference he gave. It is because he is not satisfied. You don't do that if you've reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League and if you're in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. We are still where we want and need to be in the Premier League. But yes, it's hard, I should say."

Feels like a reference to the club ethos of prioritising finishing 4th over going for silverware. Wonder if the players are getting sick of that and could filter to future signings.

 

[harr1984]

Interesting comments from PEH.

"I think we've all seen it. Very honest and very open press conference he gave. It is because he is not satisfied. You don't do that if you've reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League and if you're in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. We are still where we want and need to be in the Premier League. But yes, it's hard, I should say."

Feels like a reference to the club ethos of prioritising finishing 4th over going for silverware. Wonder if the players are getting sick of that and could filter to future signings.

I do feel like people are looking for things that simply arent there with players' comments - Romero's instagram 'having a dig at Conte'? lol This comment calling out the club ethos? All he's saying is that the coach is naturally disappointed we are knocked out of the cup competitions, but we are on target (give or take) in the league for where we need to be. It's really nothing more than that....

 

[Benny_Lad]

I do feel like people are looking for things that simply arent there with players' comments - Romero's instagram 'having a dig at Conte'? lol This comment calling out the club ethos? All he's saying is that the coach is naturally disappointed we are knocked out of the cup competitions, but we are on target (give or take) in the league for where we need to be. It's really nothing more than that....

Quite rare to see players specifically mention the cup rounds they fell short of reaching.

Also - on target in the league? Hmmm. Could swing that 2 ways:

Best we can do is 4th, but could possibly be 7th or even 8th. Interesting if that’s the target…

Or - we are currently 4th and that is the clubs target (which was my initial point).

I’ll let you decide which one.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I absolutely agree , I made that observation myself , two on two at the back post but we got outfought and outjumped there which left FOUR plus the keeper against Theo fudging Walcott who couldn't score in a brothel and none of them picked him up including Dier who ran away from him to the goaline. It was unforgivable defending to give Walcott an unmissable chance BUT that doesn't excuse Holbjerg putting his hand up and appealing to the ref for handball or a foul or a change in wind direction or whatever it was and letting the man right next to him, run away from him and fail to get back into the area as he might have been the one that did pick up Walcott.
Unacceptable and unprofessional and he does it all the time. Perhaps he thought that even though I'm right next to him I'm so slow i won't catch him anyway or maybe he just couldn't be arsed.
The only think he should be putting his hand up for is to take responsibility as a senior player on the pitch and he failed to do that.

Hojbjerg had absolutely no reason to get himself into the box for that attack. We had 6 on 3 (7 on 3 if you include the keeper) and Southampton weren't committing a midfield runner into the box.

Sorry but this is going to sound like me being an arsehole but there's not really another way to say it; expecting Hojbjerg to get himself back into our penalty area in that scenario just shows that you don't really understand what positions players are supposed to take up on the football pitch.

 

[billyiddo]

Quite rare to see players specifically mention the cup rounds they fell short of reaching.

Also - on target in the league? Hmmm. Could swing that 2 ways:

Best we can do is 4th, but could possibly be 7th or even 8th. Interesting if that’s the target…

Or - we are currently 4th and that is the clubs target (which was my initial point).

I’ll let you decide which one.

If you're a top 6 club your target in the league is CL qualification if you're not in the title race.

Anyway Conte by his own words is putting top 4 and CL qualification up on a pedal stool and often talking about how far we are away from the top clubs atm - any targets in that respect are as much his as anyone else's

 

[Baleforce]

Always interesting when somebody wants to find a way to blame a specific player for a goal even when their actions have little, if any, bearing.

We had six players (seven including the the keeper) to Southampton’s three in our penalty area. The goal gets scored because Eric Dier is a poor centre back and possibly the only centre back in the premier league who would retreat to his goal line when a cross comes into the area instead of picking up the opposition’s free man who ended up scoring the goal. There should’ve been zero danger from that cross coming in with us being 6 against 3 and 5 of those goal side of their 3. If Dier does his job (and it is just simple centre back play) then we remain 3-1 up.

Even from my seat at the stadium I could see him retreating to the line instead of picking up Walcott and knew we were then in trouble with a simple header back across the goal.

there were a lot of errors in that goal, came from a cheap corner conceded by Forster with a Hollywood save, then Perisic was awol whilst the Southampton winger had all of the space and time in the world to put in a cross, which Romero (I think) failed to get his head to, then Dier got beaten to the ball by the smallest player in the PL

it was a goal that only Spurs concede

 

[seaside spur]

Hojbjerg had absolutely no reason to get himself into the box for that attack. We had 6 on 3 (7 on 3 if you include the keeper) and Southampton weren't committing a midfield runner into the box.

Sorry but this is going to sound like me being an arsehole but there's not really another way to say it; expecting Hojbjerg to get himself back into our penalty area in that scenario just shows that you don't really understand what positions players are supposed to take up on the football pitch.

Ok so you know it all.
No need for the condescending reply.
How the hell do you know what Conte has or hasn't told him to do and his responsibilities ?
Maybe he leaves individuals to make decisions on certain situations as not every scenario can be created on the training ground and if Holbjerg is supposed to hold his position , for example stay outside the penalty area then why have I seen Holbjerg inside the box getting the last block in on multiple occasions in similar situations?
* I've gone back and watched the goal again. Holbjerg could have blocked the passing lane if he had not spent several seconds ( an eternity at the highest level) appealing for handball with his hand in the air which he does a lot. That was the crux of my post previously , the appealing to the ref while the game is going on around him ( next to him in this case ) and not playing to the whistle.

 

[monkeybarry]

Interesting comments from PEH.

"I think we've all seen it. Very honest and very open press conference he gave. It is because he is not satisfied. You don't do that if you've reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League and if you're in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. We are still where we want and need to be in the Premier League. But yes, it's hard, I should say."

Feels like a reference to the club ethos of prioritising finishing 4th over going for silverware. Wonder if the players are getting sick of that and could filter to future signings.

Probably best to go with the FULL quote:
"I think we've all seen it. Very honest and very open press conference he gave. It is because he is not satisfied. You don't do that if you've reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League and if you're in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. We are still where we want and need to be in the Premier League. But yes, it's hard, I should say."

(Here is the bit yours didn't include)

"I understand that if you want to be successful as a team, you need 11 men who are committed to a project and a culture.

"But I think he has to elaborate on how he feels before you as a player can start measuring and weighing."

That last paragraph speaks very very loudly. And doesn't indicate a manager that's part of the team.