Antonio Conte reveals why Tottenham star Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was taken off at half-time
Speaking in an interview after Tottenham Hotspur’s loss against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup as quoted by Football. London, Antonio Conte has revealed the reason for taking Danish midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg off at half-time in the game against Forest.
The Danish deep-lying midfielder started the game in the Carabao Cup but was hooked off at half-time prompting concerns over an injury which would have put fear into the hearts of the Denmark fans.
Tottenham eventually lost 2-0 to Nottingham Forest with Jesse Lingard and Renan Lodi scoring the goals for Steve Cooper’s side. It was a disappointing performance for the Lilywhites who crashed out of the domestic competition.
Hojbjerg has been one of Conte’s most-used players this season along with Harry Kane and probably Rodrigo Bentancur and he could not be afforded a complete rest even in a game like last night’s.
Hojbjerg was eventually replaced by Bentancur when Spurs came out for the second half. Not much changed for Conte’s team in terms of fortune and the international break cannot come sooner for the Lilywhites.
Speaking about the substitution, Conte eased injury fears and claimed that it was done to manage the workload between Hojbjerg and Bentancur.
“I tried to manage the situation to spread the fatigue between Hojbjerg and Bentancur. Only for this he played only the first half and Rodrigo played the second. I decided this with the players”
Hojbjerg has been one of Spurs’ best players this season. He has been an absolute presence in that midfielder. He has also improved his goalscoring and has chipped in with a number of last-minute goals.
He is set to be one of Denmark’s most important players at the World Cup. Denmark have a very good team and they will be hoping to play some good football and compete for the knockouts.
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It remains to be seen how Conte handles his players in the last match before the break. The players who go to the World Cup will be very cautious about injuries and this could impact our performance on the field. It’s up to the Italian tactician to try and avoid that.