Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg once again had a big part to play as Tottenham registered a much-needed point away at Man City on Sunday evening. A regular in the Spurs starting XI in the previous three seasons, the Dane has had to contend with a new role under Ange Postecoglou this term.
Having to settle for minutes off the bench having only started two Premier League games in 2023/24, it's quite clearly not the role Hojbjerg wants at Tottenham but it is proving to be quite effective for the head coach as he has a gamechanger on his hands. Missing out on selection at the Etihad Stadium as Postecoglou plumped for Bryan Gil in attack rather than moving Dejan Kulusevski forward and bringing the former Southampton man in to strengthen the midfield, Hojbjerg was introduced at the break in place of the Spaniard.
Tottenham quite clearly just needed more control in midfield after City had dominated proceedings and created a number of chances to put the game out of sight. That's exactly what the 28-year-old offered as he entered the fray at the start of the second half.
Putting himself about to frustrate the hosts and break up their play, he used the ball extremely well to help Tottenham find a way back into the contest. His performance went down extremely well with Postecoglou, who praised his player when speaking to the media in his post-match press conference.
«I think it helped,» he said on Hojbjerg's introduction. «I thought Pierre was excellent in the second half. His experience out there, I thought we just as a group had a lot more conviction about our football, just passing it and not second guessing ourselves and being hesitant with our passes like we did in the first half.»
It's not the first time Hojbjerg, who was heavily linked
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