Scouting and Analysis of Pierre Højbjerg vs Mainz (20 December 2014, Bundesliga)
Bayern Munich started with a 4-2-3-1 system with 2 holding midfielders providing support to the attack and defense. Hojbjerg and Schweinsteiger played that role and Hojbjerg’s defensive role allowed Schweinsteiger to provide support to Bayern Munich attack.
FIRST HALF
The first 20 minutes of the game saw Hojbjerg limited to his own half, with occasional pressing high up the pitch. In the first few minutes of the match, Bayern Munich were trying to press Mainz high up the pitch and were unsuccessful in few occasions. Mainz beat the pressing traps and setup their own counter-attack instead.
In the 3rd minute,Hojbjerg was forced to commit a foul on Yunus Malli after Bayern couldn’t win the ball in the opposition half. Hojberg showed Malli the wrong side and tried to force him to the weaker side on the pitch( to the left side of the attacker where there were no Mainz players to support). Bayern had lost all the central midfielders while pressing and Hojbjerg was left alone in the middle to defend against the Mainz attack. The attacker turned inside Hojbjerg and had 4 passing options against 3 Bayern defenders.
Hojbjerg had to commit the foul to stop the Mainz attack. But he sensed the danger and tried to force the attacker to the wrong side, before committing the foul.
During build up, he dropped in between the 2 central defenders to distribute the play out from the defense. In the first 20 mins his passing range was limited to the middle third of the pitch and he had a 100% success rate (22/22 passes completed).
His defensive role allowed Schweinsteiger to provide support to the Bayern attack and in the first 20 minutes, Schweinsteiger had more touches in the opposition half than Hojbjerg and the attacking influence of Schweinsteiger was a main threat in the entire match.
Hojbjerg’s tactical understanding of the game was very good in the match and he knew when to drop in between the center backs and when to push forward to press. His understanding with Schweinsteiger was evident in the match. For example, If Schweinsteiger dropped deep, Hojberg pushed up at the same time to provide another line of passing and if Schweinsteiger moves up to press, Hojbjerg drops back to provide support in case possession is lost.
Few times in the first 20 minutes, both Hojbjerg and Schweinsteiger were caught in the same line, which allowed Mainz to break the midfield line with a single vertical pass and caused few problems to the Bayern defense. This was the case when Hojbjerg committed his 2nd foul of the match.
His failed header caused Mainz to get behind the Bayern midfield (Hojbjerg and Schweinsteiger) and Hojberg was forced to commit a foul. Mainz’s build up to their first goal started from a misplaced pass from Hojbjerg, while building up the play from the back.
Once Bayern started to dominate after Schweinsteiger’s goal, Hojbjerg started to push high up the pitch and started to provide offensive support to the team as well as be thefirst line of defense to stop counter attacks from Mainz. This was the kind of tactic Guardiola used when Toni Kroos/ Philip Lahm played the defensive midfielder role. In offensive situations (corner or set piece), Hojbjerg positioned himself on the edge of the box depending on the side of the attack. For example, If the set piece was on the left side, he would place himself in the right side edge of the box. His role was to prevent the counter attack from Mainz by providing the first line of defense and the first person to start the pressing trigger.
Hojbjerg has an excellent first touch and he’s comfortable with both his feet. On few occasions in the first half, he reacted well under pressure from opposition and his awareness of space and players around him allowed him to react well under pressure and move the ball out of danger.
His main weakness in his game is the long chip pass. In the latter half of the first half, he misplaced 6 passes, of which 3 were long chipped pass.
This long floating pass, when successful, allowed one of the deep lying player to make a penetrating runs to attack. Toni Kroos, in last season, provided large no of these passes from deep, which allowed players like Robben, Ribery to make a late run behind opposition defense. Hojbjerg short passing has the quality to open up opposition defense, but his long passes are his main weakness at this point in his early football career.
His first half role was to rotate the play from deep and dropping in between center backs to support the build up play, which is a typical defensive midfielder role. Apart from few mistakes (Mainz first goal) and few misplaced passes, Hojbjerg was excellent in that role and allowed other players like Schweinsteiger to stay in attack for longer period in the half.
SECOND HALF
In the 25 minutes of the second half, Hojbjerg continued to support the play from deep with more sideways passes to the 2 wing backs. His involvement in the opposition half increased as the game progressed. Bayern Munich’s dominance in the second half allowed Hojberg more time on the ball and gave him more time to pick a pass. On few occasions, Mainz dropped off into their own half allowing Hojbjerg more time on and off the ball. In these situation (with less pressure), he always looked for passing options ahead of him (in attack) before going back to the defenders (in case no attacking passing options are available). This wasn’t the case in the first half, where Mainz posed more threat in attack and tried to press Bayern in every possible chance. Hojbjerg and Schweinsteiger continued to dictate the tempo from the middle in the second half,
Hojbjerg’s had 2 shots at goal towards the end of the game. The first one was from a attacking free kick and his position (opposite to the set-piece position) provided him time and space to shoot. His deep role doesn’t provide him with many scoring chance but his shooting technique in this instance was good. His second shot however didn’t pose a threat to Mainz defense.
Hojbjerg has the potential to become a quality defensive midfielder with the ability to dictate the game from deep position and also provide a threat in attack. His technique on and off the ball should improve over the next 2-3 years, provided he gets more playing time. His tactical understanding of the game is evident at the early stages of his career, most notably his performance as a right wing back against Borussia Dortmund in the 2014 German Super Cup.
“There are very few players in the world with the ability to break the line of pressing with an inside pass. Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Lahm. Højbjerg is also very good at it, but obviously he’s still very young. And I’ll tell you something else: I was good at it, too. Why do you think I lasted so long at Barça? It wasn’t for my speed, or my muscle power, or my headers, or my goals, obviously.”
Pep Guardiola in the Pep Confidential by Marti Perarnau
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