With Højbjerg, Tottenham finally have a boss in the middle
A “todocampista” for the Mou. Faced with many problems since taking office at Tottenham in the heart of autumn 2019, the Portuguese technician has had to show a lot of patience to find the right formula with his group. More problematic still, the Lusitanian had regular headaches to find reliable executives, ready to privilege the collective interest. The recipe is well known, even if it has changed a little: the Mou indicates the way and the men follow it.
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Confronted with the inevitable departure of Christian Eriksen, not convinced by the level of Harry Winks and Eric Dier, repositioned in central defense since then, and long shaking Tanguy Ndombélé, Mourinho tore his hair to find the right formula for the season last for his midfield. Result, the Spurs lacked balance for lack of a boss, in every sense of the word, for their defensive sector. The offseason finally put an end to this lack. Mourinho asked Daniel Levy, the boss of Spurs, to take Pierre Emile Højbjerg from him. No need for more. The 25-year-old cost Tottenham just £ 15million.
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Mourinho loves Danish. Why does Mourinho adore him? Because he’s a complete player and a soldier. As well as being a tireless recuperator with a very high sense of anticipation, the Dane is skilled with his feet. Far from being an enemy with the ball, he knows how to recover, revive, distribute while playing football that could be described as simple or without risk. Even better, Højbjerg is versatile: low point in a three-way midfielder, Moussa Sissoko’s companion in the 4-2-3-1 double pivot currently used by Mourinho, the midfielder never evolves below ‘a certain level and its impact does not change from one diagram to another. Former ten in his younger years, he has receded over time, but he kept his qualities and especially his vision of the game. To describe it, one could think of a strange beast: a motorized pit bull with a large tank of gasoline.
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Most of all, he’s a soldier. This military side pleases Mourinho very much, who has always needed a relay in the field. Captain in the youth selections in Denmark, before becoming one in Southampton where he played for four years, he took the same role in North London, but having an armband around his arm. “He is someone who has a strong voice and above all he is a leader. He is a pure team player. He’s someone you can count on because he’s a soldier. If the coach tells him ‘Run’, he will run. He doesn’t say a word more than the other, he respects the hierarchy“, explained this summer Jonas Bo Nielsen to the official website of Tottenham, a Danish journalist who followed the career of his compatriot.”When he was younger, he was channeled because he was running all over the field. Now he’s older and knows when to kick in or save himself. He is a leader, but he is also aware of areas where he can still improve and what he still needs to learn. This is also why Tottenham saw his full potential and why the challenge was not too great for him. He is a hard worker who thinks collectively.”
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Mourinho – Højbjerg, mad love
In the Premier League since 2016, Højbjerg has spent four seasons in England. Enough to make him a seasoned man in this particular championship, more technical than you might think, and still as physically demanding. Promoted captain at Southampton at 23 after two mixed first seasons, he especially impressed José Mourinho last season, during Spurs’ two confrontations against the Saints. During the return match, the Portuguese had also stressed that he had no midfielder, pointing to the poor performance of Tanguy Ndombélé that day. Since then, the Frenchman has found himself in a new position, a notch higher, thanks to the arrival of Højbjerg precisely. The truth is, Mourinho only had eyes for the Copenhagen native. He was the missing piece of his Tottenham.
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Desired by many clubs in Europe, including Bayern who wanted to replace Thiago Alcantara with his former player, the Dane quickly chose to go to Tottenham after refusing to extend with Southampton. The reason: José Mourinho, of course. The two men turned around and they ended up getting together, as a matter of course. After five months of discovery, Mourinho behaves like a dad with his new foal: he shouts at him to celebrate the victory against Manchester City of which he was the captain, the room by nicknamed him Zidane after a failed roulette attempt. This mother bear attitude is not anecdotal: the Portuguese knows that he has found his new Claude Makélélé / Nemanja Matic. And he pampers it in his own way.
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Mourinho sees him above all as a lover of the game. “Pierre is a smart person. He reads the game very well and understands it very well. He will become a coach one day, I was convinced of that. He’s a troublesome person during training: he just asks questions all the time: ‘Why do we do this and that?‘”, explained the Portuguese recently.”He reads situations on the pitch very well and the players around him know how to position themselves so that the block is compact. Physically, he is very strong. Technically, he’s better than many think. Some people think that the technically strong person is the one who scores by making a Madjer, and who does wonders on the field. But I’m not like that, I’m not like the coaches of 30-40 years ago. For me, what makes genius is simplicity. And he is simple in everything he does. I think he’s a phenomenal player. “
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Impressive numbers for a competitive Tottenham
How to measure the impact of Pierre Emile Højbjerg with Tottenham? Using the numbers, that’s pretty telling.
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870 – The Denmark international is the Premier League’s third-best assists – in assists – this season. He distributed only 31 balls less than Rodri, wide leader in this ranking with his 901 assists. Youri Tielemans (Leicester, 815), N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea, 797 assists) and James Ward-Prowse (Southampton, PEH’s successor, 793 assists) are further. This is a strong figure knowing that Tottenham is only the tenth team to distribute the most balls (5785).
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23 – An effective six is a six that makes mistakes. Højbjerg has committed 23 since September. There too, he is third in the standings. Mateusz Klich (Leeds, 26) and Tomas Soucek (West Ham, 24) are ahead of him. And he took only one yellow card, during the first day. Making mistakes is also an art.
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35 – Højbjerg is PL’s fifth-strongest tackler this season. And the leader of this classification – Oriol Romeu – has only 11 tackles in advance.
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1080 – This is the number of minutes played in the Premier League by the midfielder. He played all 12 league games in their entirety. In the last two seasons, he has passed the milestone of 30 meetings with his former club Southampton. Little injured, Højbjerg is a reliable element over a whole season.
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16 – Of his 31 aerial duels played in the league this season, Højbjerg skillfully used his 1.85m, winning more than half of them.
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10,59 – This is the number of balls per match collected by PEH, i.e. the best ratio in the Premier League during the 2019/2020 season.
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Precocity, drama and Guardiola
Pierre Emile Højbjerg’s career started very early. Spotted by Bayern Munich at the start of the decade, the midfielder, after stints at FC Copenhagen and Brøndby, breaks the codes at home and puts his bags in Munich at the age of 16. In Bavaria, the adaptation went badly during the first months, but the one who was captain of the youth teams in Denmark crossed all the obstacles, to the point of catching the eye of a certain Jupp Heynckes who integrated him into the professional group in early 2013, before launching into competition in April, which will make him the youngest player to play in the Bundesliga for Bayern (at 17).
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Definitely integrated with the A under the Pep Guardiola era, Højbjerg plays little but is part of the team dynamic. Despite the sustained pace whether under Heynckes or Guardiola, he progresses and suffers in silence. “For my teammates, training was at normal paces, for me it looked like finals“, he explained to FIFA at the time. Psychologically leached, alone in Munich, Højbjerg is especially marked by the disease of his father. At the end of 2013, the young player learns that his father is suffering of stomach cancer, a fight which he unfortunately lost a few months later. Supported as never before by Uli Hoeness, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Pep Guardiola, Højbjerg went through this moment with great difficulty and saw his progress slowed down. in Augsburg and Schalke will not convince Bayern to give him a chance, unlike Morten Olsen who launched him with the Denmark A team in 2014. Guardiola had in mind to convert him to number six in a trident. A role too complex. for his abilities at the time. It was too early, so Southampton will jump at the chance.
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On a sporting level, his early career is marked by his strong relationship with Pep Guardiola. It was under the orders of the Catalan that he learned to develop his love for the tactical aspect and the training sessions worked out to the millimeter, a detail which therefore did not escape José Mourinho. Unlike the legends, with Pep we work on everything and PEH even learned to defend better by listening to his mentor. The complete player that he has become today makes Mourinho happy, a shame. “Pep thinks about now but also about tomorrow when he does his training. He wants to win the same day, but also to win in the future. Heynckes thought only of winning. Pep too, but with the idea of winning in five years. With him, we have the right mentality and the right character to become better. He is the best thing that has happened at Bayern “Pierre Emile Højbjerg, he is the child that the couple Mourinho – Guardiola never had. These two are not so opposed after all.
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Pep Guardiola and Pierre Emile Højbjerg
Credit: Getty Images
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