Stop The Hojbjerg Hate

Is Pierre Emile Hojbjerg a good player? Recent trends on online Spurs communities seem to be divided on this question. It feels strange, just a year ago he was praised as being one of the signings of the season, seen as one of the most underrated holding-mids in the League, and praised for his warrior mentality (case in point, when he tried to get back on the pitch after a nasty gash on his leg against Brentford in the League Cup semi-final). But lately, his performances have come under scrutiny, sometimes unfairly so. The emergence of Oliver Skipp has made him look redundant to some, and some even now see him as a liability. In my opinion, this couldn’t be further from the truth, and I’ll try to make a case for it here.

Let’s get to one of the main reasons for him not being able to replicate the tip-top performances we saw at the beginning of last season. He has been overplayed. He has played almost every single minute of Premier League football and has not started just one game against Liverpool this season. Add to this a deep run in the Euros with Denmark, and it's clear that fatigue has been one of the reasons why he isn’t as effective as he initially was.

Speaking of his initial performances, let me shed some light on some of his displays at the start of the previous season. Jose Mourinho was praised for his shrewd acquisition, a midfield lynchpin who cost merely 15 million. He performed way above expectations; notable performances including City and Arsenal at home, Chelsea away. Was there a dip in his performances in the latter parts of the season? Sure. But it cannot be attributed to him alone. The whole squad had gotten burnt out, Sissoko and Ndombele lost form, Winks and Dele weren’t favored, the defence became very penetrable and as a whole, the team went from a faux title charge to barely scraping European football. But if you watched the team at that time, PEH remained much better than everyone else. All the other players I mentioned were dropped, but PEH remained a consistent starter. Further, once he went to the Danish national team, he became better than he was, finishing with the second-most assists from defensive midfield and being a crucial part of the Danish team. Playing with better players helped him play his natural game more. What a shock!

Why do I mention this? Well, people seem to have the memory of a goldfish. His worst performances came under Nuno. And people seem to be judging him off of them. Remember that the whole team was absolutely dreadful in that period. There was no structure, no tactics, no instructions, nothing at all. Nuno played with Dele and Ndombele with Hojbjerg as a single pivot, leaving him open and fighting for his life alone in the middle. This has very much improved under Conte.

The main problem in my opinion is that he has been let down by his teammates. People may slate him for being too safe with his passing and not being a very good outlet offensively. But as Roy Keane doesn't say, that's not his job. It's not his fault that Ndombele cannot perform for more than an hour, Lo Celso comes out of the physio room only to play for the international break, and Dele remains Dele. Ideally, we must be having a ball-winner (PEH or Skipp) along with 2 more attacking or box-to-box midfielders. Too bad the only other reliable option is another 19-year-old DM playing his first regular pro season at the top flight. And despite this, if you watch Hojbjerg, he is always trying his best to make the forward passes. He is in the top 91 percentile in final-third passes and progressive passes this season (among all PL mids, not just defensive ones. even if you count the CAMs and others)

I watched Harry Winks play week in and week out for 3 years before PEH. Now I respect Winks for his continuous service to the club and he surely seems to have turned a corner under Conte, I feel he is a very one-dimensional player who offers very little. Before Conte, either he would panic when pressed and pass to the CBs, or get muscled off the ball and concede a counter. He was so lightly built that if he did a tactical foul, he would be booked for simulation when he ricocheted off the attacker. And on the rare occasion when he would make a ball over the top, it would be a goal kick (ok he scored an accidental banger once against a Bulgarian team)

The difference between him and a competent DM is day and night. In an ideal world, we should have one of Skipp or PEH play, paired with a box-to-box and/or a CAM. Fortunately, in the short term, both of them seem to be doing a serviceable role in carrying the ball and hopefully, we can get someone like Kessie for this soon

Now, as a benchmark, let me compare his stats p90 this season with the best midfielder and 3rd best player in the world.

Metric (p90)	Hojbjerg	Jorghinio
Key Passes	0.84	0.81
Passes Into Final-Third	7,04	5.26
Progressive Passes	6.26	5.03
Shot Creating Actions	2.41	2.11

Now I’m not saying he is better than Jorghinio, I'm saying he isn't completely useless as a ball progressor as people make him out to be.

In conclusion, Hojbjerg has been one of the many victims of our team’s inconsistencies, the management’s poor squad building, and poor coaching over the last few seasons. He is a very talented player, who is being under-appreciated at the moment. His leadership qualities and passionate attitude towards the club are also a big asset to any team which wants to progress ahead. With a proper midfield partner, adequate rest, and a full pre-season under Conte, we will soon see our Viking back to his very best soon.