Tottenham players were actively avoiding passing to £15m player during win over Fulham

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Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg made his first start of the Premier League campaign for Tottenham Hotspur on Monday and slotted in seamlessly to Ange Postecoglou’s side. 

The 28-year-old has struggled for minutes so far this season, with Ange Postecoglou preferring a midfield three of Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and James Maddison. 

Bissouma was ruled out of Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Fulham after being sent off last time out at Kenilworth Road.

It’s fair to say that Hojbjerg grabbed his opportunity with both hands as the £15 million man put in a commanding performance in the middle of the park. 

But The Athletic’s James Maw claims he noticed that Tottenham’s centre-backs were reluctant to pass to the midfielder on Monday night. 

Tottenham players avoided passing to Hojbjerg against Fulham

Speaking on The View From The Lane Podcast, Maw said: “Yeah, there were a couple of moments when you could see the centre-backs looking to play out and then realise it was [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg and then kind of reshape and then play a slightly different pass.

“But yeah, he was incredibly good and I think it sends a kind of message to those other fringe players that you may not play a game for or start a game for however many weeks but you will get an opportunity eventually and it is possible to play very well.”

It was noticeable that Hojbjerg didn’t pick up the ball as frequently from Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven as Bissouma has this season.

But that is to be expected as that isn’t a massive strength of Hojbjerg’s game. Instead, Maddison started to drop a bit deeper and that worked quite well for Tottenham on the night. 

Hojbjerg also put in an eye-catching display and offered a different kind of option to Bissouma due to his excellent range of passing.

We’d like to see Postecoglou stick with Hojbjerg for Friday’s trip to Selhurst Park, with Pape Matar Sarr getting a well-earned rest.

The youngster played through illness on Monday and it would be intriguing to see Bissouma in a more advanced role due to his exceptional quality on the ball.