Journalist thinks some Spurs stars were avoiding passing to one player against Fulham
Journalist James Maw has speculated that during Monday night’s match against Fulham, the Tottenham center backs hesitated a few times to pass to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Yves Bissouma has been one of Tottenham’s best players this season without a doubt. Ange Postecoglou’s team has benefited greatly from his ability to carry the ball out of defense and handle the ball in confined spaces.
After being sent off against Luton Town, the Mali international was always going to be a big miss against Fulham. However, to Hojbjerg’s credit, he fit right in at midfield and helped the home team win 2-0 that evening.
In his post-match press conference, Postecoglou singled out the Dane for praise, saying that the seasoned midfielder was very composed when he had the ball (Football.London).
Spurs changed their style slightly for Hojbjerg
Maw believed, though, that Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero were less assured when passing the ball to Hojbjerg than they were when passing it to Bissouma.
On The Athletic’s The View From The Lane Podcast, the writer stated: “Yeah, there were a few instances where you could see the center-backs looking to play out and then realize it was [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg and then kind of reshape and then play a slightly different pass.
But yes, he was really good, and I believe it kind of sends a message to those other fringe players that even though you might not get a chance to play for a while or even start one for however many weeks, you can still play very well.
The reason Romero and Van de Ven might not have wanted to put Hojbjerg in a tight situation is that his strengths differ from Bissouma’s, and the Dane is clearly not as press-resistant as the Mali international. Despite this, there is some debate over whether the 28-year-old makes better decisions off the ball than Bissouma does when it comes to timing and pass selection.
