Robbie Earle hinted that he was surprised by the performance of one of Tottenham Hotspur’s players against Manchester United, but insisted that no one else would talk about his performance at Old Trafford.
Spurs fans may have been scared when they saw the team list for the clash with Erik ten Hag’s men. Dejan Kulusevski was absent from the pitch. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp played alongside Rodrigo Bentancur in the midfield.
Hojbjerg and Skipp have been substitutes for Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr for most of this season. The Danish international played 90 minutes just three times in the Premier League this season at the weekend.
Robbie Earle praised Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg after Tottenham’s draw:
Hojbjerg more than played his part as Tottenham dominated the middle of the park in a 2-2 draw with Manchester United.
Hojbjerg was not exactly a fan favourite during his time at Tottenham. In fact, there has been a lot of speculation that Hojbjerg could leave Spurs in this window.
However, speaking to The 2 Robbies podcast, Robbie Earle pointed out that the former Southampton captain deserves a lot of praise for his performance against United, but he fears it will go unnoticed.
“I’m going to draw your attention to my underrated performer of the week and I can assure you that in this country and the many countries where our listeners are, there will be nobody else who will go for that same guy. For many reasons, my underrated artist of the week is Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg,” he said.
“He’s 28 years old, he’s a Danish international. Today he made his fifth start for the Spurs under Postecoglou, he played all the games last season, the number of games under different managements. But he has fallen into disfavour. It is obvious that there was no room for him in the middle of the park, where Sarr and Bissouma – absent at the African Cup of Nations – are usually found with Maddison and the wide players.
“But I tell you what, for me as an underrated performer, a 28-year-old international footballer who, when asked to play, gets on with it. I think I got on the pitch and did a decent job. I think it’s his attitude, it’s not stuffy. He hasn’t had a row with the manager. There are rumours that they might want to sack him in this window, but we’ll wait and see.
“But it’s a real professional performance from a man in the middle of the park who doesn’t get the headlines, nobody will talk about him, he doesn’t get the goals or the assists – although he got a few more than I thought last season. But I thought this term, which is underrated, you need some good eggs like Hojbjerg in the team who come in on days like today and do their job. And I thought he did it perfectly.”
Ange Postecoglou can trust Spurs’ centre forward
It is not without reason that Hojbjerg has featured in every Premier League game since the opening day of the campaign. Ange Postecoglou can trust him, even if he doesn’t meet all the requirements the Tottenham boss is looking for.
He was a decent signing for £15m, even if the fans never quite accepted him.
As Earle says, he is unlikely to take many headlines with his performances. And he’s not necessarily going to change the game.
But with the controlled chaos that can happen at Spurs, it’s a big advantage to have someone like Hojbjerg, who can score six or seven out of a possible ten points most weeks.