‘Watch him’: Graeme Souness claims £15m Tottenham player genuinely looked scared of the ball last night

Add as preferred source on Google

Graeme Souness claimed Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pierre-Emile Hobjerg looked genuinely scared to block the ball on Sky Sports last night.

Tottenham put in a convincing second-half display against Crystal Palace last night as they picked up their first win since the return of the Premier League.

Harry Kane’s quickfire brace at the start of the second-half put Antonio Conte’s men in control of the game. Goals from Matt Doherty and Heung-Min Son wrapped up a 4-0 win for Spurs but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

Palace dominated for the majority of the first-half and had a couple of opportunities to put themselves ahead.

One fell to Joachim Andersen who found himself with plenty of space just outside the Tottenham penalty area. Fortunately for Spurs, his shot whistled just wide of Hugo Lloris’ goal.

But Souness wasn’t impressed by Hojbjerg’s efforts to close his compatriot down and said he was worried about the ball hitting him. 

Souness on Hojbjerg

Speaking on Sky Sports’ coverage of the game during half-time, the Liverpool legend was critical of Tottenham’s first-half display.

“Just watch Hojbjerg here at an attempt to sprint to him [Andersen] and close him down. Watch him, watch his attempt,” Souness said. 

“He’s worried about getting hit with the ball. Sorry, watch. You know when you’re a manager on the sideline and you’re looking for a reaction from your team.

“First thing you’re looking for is some real aggression, you’ll die for the cause. Tottenham aren’t dying for any cause. They look [like] a team of players who are feeling sorry for themselves.”

Of course, Tottenham proved Souness wrong with their second-half display but there’s no denying that Hojbjerg’s efforts to make a block were pretty poor.

The £15 million man has been brilliant under Conte this season but he has been slightly off the pace since returning from the World Cup.

Hojbjerg has put in his best displays in a Spurs shirt while playing alongside Rodrigo Bentancur and he is seemingly missing his midfield partner at the moment.

Nevertheless, he improved dramatically after half-time and played particularly well alongside youngster Pape Matar Sarr.