Denmark lost 2-3 to Norway on Thursday night. Straight after, captain Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg questioned the midfield picked by Brian Riemer: himself, Morten Hjulmand and Victor Froholdt. “The problem is that we have two players with the same profile in midfield. The coach should pick one and leave the other on the bench,” he said, according to VoetbalPrimeur.
He added: “It’s clear that it isn’t working. It’s even a bit embarrassing.” The comment caused an uproar in Denmark. Hojbjerg later apologised in an Instagram story, and Riemer, a former Anderlecht coach, said he’d had “a good conversation” with his captain. “It’s forgotten now,” said the coach. The debate over the Hojbjerg-Hjulmand pairing, though, is still running in Denmark.
Tactically, two identical d-mids is a rich club’s problem. My own defensive midfielder is whoever’s got the key to the changing rooms. If he’s late, we warm up in the car park and he gets his first touch in the 20th minute, once the prefab’s open. Choosing between two identical players? Never happened to me. I once had to choose between a player and the canteen till. A flat pitch away, mind you.
Freddy won’t say who’s right, the captain or his coach. He only notes how fast the clear-the-air meeting happened, which impresses him: at his place, the last one was held pitchside at pitch 2, while the club delegate was still filling in the team sheet.
Silly question, but if they’ve got the same profile, how do you know which one comes off?
It’s true, we checked: VoetbalPrimeur.be.
