Pierre-Emile Højbjerg: The CDM who can win it for Mourinho’s Spurs?
‘…the special one who has won it at all at distinct teams he’s managed, but has won it with an identical yet indispensable player position in his teams’.
3x Premier League, 2x Serie A, 1x La Liga,2x Premiera Liga, 3x European Titles, and numerous League cups. José Mourinho, has won it all at every team he has managed. But among them lies a common set of players, who repeatedly have stood out among the rest.
A relatively unknown José, having managed to win Champions League with an underdog Porto side, was appointed as Chelsea Manager by the Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich in June,2004.
The English teams in 2004, were accustomed to playing the traditional 4-4-2 formation. José Mourinho, being well known for his pragmatic approach, brought in a tactical change to his side. This tactical change was so effective, it brought in total renovation of the formations in English League.
French international, Claude Makelele, who provided the engine in Chelsea midfield, was moved in much defensive position, while bringing in Lampard and a young Joe Cole in a midfield three. This 4–3–3 formation was also tweeked at times by moving Gudjohnsen into the 10 no. role, in a diamond midfield four.
This gave his side a numerical advantage against the two man midfield of English teams, while providing the fullbacks with lots of space when the opponents tried to defend narrow.
The result was a title winning squad of record best 95 league points (broken by man city in 18/19) with a record best 25 clean sheets (still intact) and 15 goals conceded (still intact) in his first season.
The CDM role has been a crucial part of Jose’s title winning sides. Costahina, Makelele, Essien, Cambiasso, Khedira, Matic have been the players Mourinho has coveted. These unselfish players were the ones who did the dirty work, providing the steel to the team.
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, 24, who has played in his youth at Bayern Munich, was the captain of Southampton team under the coach Ralph Hasenhüttl, and fits all the criteria to be the player of Mourinho’s mould.
Since Dembele and Wanayama left the club, the spurs midfield have been weaker defensively. Eric Dier, who used to play in the CDM role, was playing poorly under Pochettino in recent seasons. He was tried in the same position by José in initial period of his tenure. But the performances didn’t convince the manager. Also the player recently stated that he sees his future at center-back position.
This left spurs with no options at defensive position. Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko were used as the midfield to shield the defense, which wasn’t convincing either.
Since lockdown, the team has been robust in defense. Besides the horror display against Sheffield United at Bramal Lane, Spurs are looking much more like Mourinho’s defensive teams over the years.
Signing Højbjerg will allow the likes of Lo Celso and Ndombele to be relieved of the the defensive duties. The latter has been criticised by the manager of not being able to keep up with the fitness standards of the pl, to play much more attacking game.
Signing Højbjerg will finally Mourinho allow to put his stamp on this Spurs team. The manager and the team will be looking to prove its point to its haters, with the former wanting to maintain his glory against the likes of Guardiola and Klopp, while the latter wanting to win first silverware since 2008.