In a rather surprising result on Sunday, Denmark lost their 2024 Euros qualification game against Kazakhstan, which Tottenham’s Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was understandably not best pleased about when he spoke to the media, relayed by Ekstra Bladet.
The defeat was then followed by the much expected announcement that Spurs and Antonio Conte had mutually parted ways.
That means the Danish midfielder will therefore likely return to Tottenham to work under Cristian Stellini, who is acting as interim until a new manager is appointed, and he might need time to get over the defeat against Kazakhstan.
The Spurs man was visibly frustrated, both due to the team’s performance, but also his own, with the newspaper stating he ‘was not himself at all on the pitch towards the end of the match’.
Højbjerg said: “It’s really bad. It’s hard to rank things, but this was too bad. [They should] absolutely not [lose against Kazakhstan]. Totally agree. It’s difficult to find words and come up with explanations, but what I can say is that there are some things that are not about talent, that are not about right and left foot, but to a great extend, the basic things you can do to stand up in such a match here.
“That didn’t happen. It was too immature. We are collapsing, but you can call it what you want. It’s difficult to explain, as I have said, but yes – the mental can also be something. Things like this just shouldn’t happen. Kazakhstan end the game by wanting it more than us. I think that’s undignified. Denmark were ahead 2-0 at half-time, but then things went wrong.”
This was the Tottenham player’s 65th cap for his country, and is one the 27-year-old will want to forget and move on from.
He was also asked if he had things to say to his teammates, to which he replied: “Of course, internally, but not here with the press, because it’s still challenging to find out what is up and what is down.”
Since the start of the season, Højbjerg has been nearly omnipresent for Spurs in the league, starting all but one game, which was the 2-1 loss to Newcastle back in October.
