Tottenham will struggle vs Manchester City as Sky Sports News update emerges on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg
Ange Postecoglou may be forced into making a regrettable decision when it comes to his team selection against Manchester City in the FA Cup on Friday 26 January.
The Australian finds himself desperately short of midfield options, with first-choice duo Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr both currently competing at the 2024 African Cup of Nations.
As a result, Postecoglou could be forced to call upon a player who has hardly featured for the 58-year-old this season.
According to Sky Sports News (16 January), due to the midfield shortage at Hotspur Way, Spurs might need Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to start against City at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the North London side look to advance to the fifth round of England’s oldest cup competition.
Postecoglou will be keen to bring Spurs’ 16-year trophy drought to an end, but playing the Denmark international against Pep Guardiola’s side could seriously harm the former Celtic manager’s chances of achieving that goal.
Hojbjerg’s most recent display against City’s noisy neighbours, Manchester United, proves that the 27-year-old cannot be trusted to play his manager’s style of football.
Tottenham left Old Trafford with a point following their 2-2 draw with the Red Devils on Sunday 14 January, but will feel as if they should have left with all three after dominating the contest.
A big reason why they didn’t was down to Hojbjerg’s anonymous performance in the middle of the park.
As per Sofascore, although the former Southampton man managed to complete 88 per cent of his passes with one of those being key, he failed to provide a successful cross into the box from his two attempts and also completed zero per cent of his attempted dribbles.
His ability going forward is not usually the Dane’s strong point, but his defensive struggles against Erik Ten Hag’s side will be of particular cause for concern, considering that is usually the side of his game where he excels.
Hojbjerg won just two of his nine ground duels, was dribbled past three times and gave possession away on 22 different occasions.
It was the type of performance which demonstrated why the midfielder has not been selected more often by Postecoglou this season.
Hojbjerg has made just five Premier League starts across the 2023/24 campaign, after being a mainstay in North London since his arrival at the club.
He has not done much to cover himself in glory across those sporadic starts either. Spurs have won just one of the five matches in which Hojbjerg has played a part from the beginning, which is no coincidence considering his underwhelming displays across these matches.
In the 2-1 defeat against Wolves at Molineux (11 November) he was particularly poor, winning just 50 per cent of his ground duels, losing his one aerial duel while also being dribbled past three times.
He started again in the 2-1 home defeat against West Ham United (7 December), where he once again couldn’t impact the game going forward, failing to play a key pass or complete a successful dribble.
It is clear that his future lies elsewhere, but for now, he might be needed in one of the club’s biggest games of the season, and he will hope to make a much better account of himself on that occasion.
In other Tottenham news, one rarely-seen Spurs star could be a difference-maker this season after Postecoglou labelled him “outstanding”.
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