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Player reportLigue 1 2025/26

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

Marseille
Ball-winning 6 (destroyer) DM
11.7 defensive actions/90
Capability Analysis
Breaking Pressure
no action recorded in any high-press match yet
Progression74%vs 21 defensive mids
"Can he move the team forward with a pass, not just recycle it sideways?"
Progressive passes /903.8657%
Line-breaking passes /901.7352%
Threat added by passing /901.48xT90%
Pass accuracy89.38%95%
Ball-Winning36%vs 21 defensive mids
"How actively does he win the ball back?"
Interceptions /901.010%
Ball recoveries /905.0443%
Tackles /901.2114%
Duels won /900.9776%
defensive midtempo controllerpress resistancescreening
2866
minutes
32 apps
2248
passes
90% completed
90%
pass completion
2248 passes
187
progressive passes
5.9/90
373
defensive actions
11.7/90
65
tackles + interceptions
68% tackle win
159
recoveries
5.0/90
144
line-breaking passes
4.5/90
Overview

The player

Who he is and how he compares with his peers.

01

What Patterns Define Him?

His repeatable signature. A step only appears if its reliability score (sample size × match coverage) reaches at least Medium confidence — pattern mining, not anecdotes.

RECEIVE
drop between the centre-backs — mostly in the middle third (70% of his 2248 passes)
90% completion · 2248× in 32/32 matches
↓
ESCAPE PRESSURE
turn out of a tight central area
52% won · 33× in 22/32 matches
↓
PROGRESS CENTRAL
break a line through the middle
5.9 prog/90 · 144× in 30/32 matches
↓
SCREEN / WIN BALL
protect the back four
7.0 ball-wins/90 · 224× in 32/32 matches
↓
RECYCLE / PROGRESS
keep it ticking, feed the final third
9.0 f3-entries/90 · 286× in 32/32 matches
Signature: drop to receive → escape the press on the turn → progress centrally or recycle → screen the counter. Block the central lane and press his first touch to force him backwards.
19

Where is he influential — vs where is he merely present?

Red fill = raw touch territory. Gold rings = zones where his influence (xT added, progression, line-breaks, key passes) outweighs how often he's actually there — one combined map instead of two separate maps to compare by eye. Red with no ring: present but not dangerous. A ring on faint red: rare touches, outsized impact.

own goal left, attacking →
70
passes / match
11.7
def actions / 90
18–117
pass range (matches)
48
clearances
Pass range = his fewest and most passes in any single match this season (18 at the low end, 117 at the high) — a measure of match-to-match involvement, not pass distance.
In possession

In possession

What he does with the ball: build-up, progression, creation, carrying and finishing.

11

How dangerous are his carries?

Real ball-carries

559 tracked carries (17.6/90, 98 progressive, 4852m total) — the ball moving with his touches, a different signal from dribbles below (beating an opponent 1v1). even a player who rarely dribbles past a man can still carry the ball forward constantly in build-up; this is that.

0%2%5%5%2%1%1%10%19%12%4%0%0%5%16%12%6%0%
progressivelateral/short% of his 559 carries originating in each zone · own goal left, attacking →
Every carry, exact path — median 7m, longest 29m
By zone — where the carry started → where it ended
56Outside → Inside
437Inside → Inside
48Outside → Outside
18Inside → Outside
First (203)Second (127)Third (118)Fourth (111)grouped by carry pattern (start + end position), largest group first
startendown goal left, attacking →

Beaten in the tackle

How often an attacker gets past him in a 1v1 defensive duel — the closest signal the data has to "dribbled past" (no attacker-beat-defender field exists directly, so this counts tackles he attempted and lost).

38
tackle duels
26
won
12
beaten · 32%
brighter band = more tackle duels · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 71%
OUTSIDE 29%
Tackle-duel location — 27 inside · 11 outside
Right Wing
6 · 16%
Right Half-Space
8 · 21%
Central
12 · 32%
Left Half-Space
7 · 18%
Left Wing
5 · 13%
Vision AI beaten in 12 of 38 tackle duels (32% loss rate) — a solid 1v1 defensive record.
Every tackle duel, exact location
wonlost — dribbled pastown goal left, attacking →

Dribbles (1v1s)

Can he escape pressure on the ball? His carries/dribbles in tight central areas, by channel. Season rate: 1.04 dribbles attempted /90.

brighter band = more dribbles · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 58%
OUTSIDE 42%
Dribble location — 19 inside · 14 outside
Right Wing
4 · 12%
Right Half-Space
7 · 21%
Central
6 · 18%
Left Half-Space
6 · 18%
Left Wing
10 · 30%
Vision AI 58% of his carries are central — he receives and turns in congested midfield zones rather than out wide.
03

How does he build & move the ball?

How does he escape the first line?

10%
vertical passes
94×
3%
switches
29×
35%
carries
328×
52%
short circulation
479×
Answer: he escapes the press primarily through carrying — stepping out with the ball.

How he moves the ball — his 4 busiest progression routes, not where every pass starts and ends separately. Arrow width = how often, colour = xT gained, dashed = switch of play. The full breakdown is in the lane matrix below.

own goal left, attacking →
Lane transition matrix — when he receives in a lane, where does it go?
TO →RWRHSCLHSLWRW11966%7929%345%6RHS37843%16130%11521%814%161%5C61410%6028%17131%19220%12411%67LHS6781%87%4926%17925%17240%270LW2232%51%35%1231%6960%134FROM
Rows normalised: each row sums to 100% of that lane's completed passes. Grey number = passes from that lane.

Primary route: the left half-space in the middle third → the left half-space in the final third — 11 progressive passes (9% of his progression) at 0.115 xT each. He keeps it in the same lane.

His progression is inward: 38% of progressive passes move the ball toward the middle versus 15% going wider — he cuts in rather than holding width.

Only 8% of his passes switch play, so his threat is same-side — contain the flank he occupies and the route closes.

Quality behind the volume: 56 line-breaking passes and 286 final-third entries, 23.8 total xT added.

Origin and destination are measured on the same event row — no receiver inference. Receiver identity is not recoverable from this data source.
All passes — origin zone share
Filter: from to
0%2%6%9%3%0%1%6%16%14%4%0%1%4%11%16%6%0%
completedincomplete2248 passes · any zone → any zone · own goal left, attacking →
2248
passes
90%
completed
236
lost
Vision AIIn line with his 90% season completion rate.
02

How does he progress play?

How much he drives the ball forward. Progressive = completed pass advancing ≥15 toward goal.

187
progressive · 5.9/90
286
final-third entries · 9.0/90
29
box entries · 0.91/90
24
progression index /90
Progression index: one composite number — progressive passes + progressive carries + 2% of total distance progressed + 8× positive xT added, all per 90. Weights VOLUME and THREAT together rather than counting progressive actions alone.
12

How does he create chances?

42 key passes (1.32/90), 0 of them assists — where his chance creation specifically comes from, 18 zones (6×3), showing his share of key passes originating there.

Chance creation — key pass origin zone share
Filter:
5%2%5%7%10%21%19%7%2%7%14%
chance creation (42)assist (0)% of the selected group's key passes originating in each zone
14

Can he finish?

46 shots · 3.19 xG · 4 goals (+0.81 vs xG). Mostly right-footed. Circle size = xG.

shots  46
on target  25
goals  4
xG  3.19
xG on target  2.62
xG / shot  0.069
Where he shoots from — click an area of the box
06

Where does he become vulnerable?

252 times he gave the ball away. For a defender the danger is where — a loss in his own third can turn into a chance against; higher up it costs little.

57
attacking third (cheap)
146
middle third
49
own third (dangerous)
Vision AI 23% of losses are in the attacking third — a notable share happen deeper, which invites transitions.
Mistake danger (proxy): 2.85 danger-index/90 · 0.360 avg/turnover. Weights each loss by threat conceded at that location. True xT-conceded needs the opponent possession model; positional proxy.
07

What is his passing profile?

2248
passes attempted
48%
mostly forward
54%
mostly short
Direction
Forward
1079 · 48%
Sideways
744 · 33%
Backward
425 · 19%
Length (completed)
Short (<15m)
1078 · 54%
Medium
841 · 42%
Long (>30m)
93 · 5%
05

Preferred Progression Routes — xT-weighted

His progressive passes as zone→zone routes, weighted by expected threat (xT) added — arrow width and the number are the total xT generated on each route, not just how often he plays it. This is where he actually moves the needle.

1.441.301.191.180.990.93
own goal left, attacking →
Highest-value routes (xT)
1.44
Left Half-Space Mid third → Left Wing Att third
20 passes
1.30
Left Half-Space Mid third → Left Half-Space Att third
4 passes · 2 to a shot
1.19
Right Half-Space Mid third → Right Half-Space Att third
6 passes · 1 to a shot
1.18
Central Mid third → Left Half-Space Att third
6 passes · 2 to a shot
0.99
Central Mid third → Right Half-Space Att third
5 passes · 1 to a shot
0.93
Central Att third → Right Half-Space Att third
4 passes · 2 to a shot
09

Where Does He Receive?

The zones where Pierre-Emile Højbjerg gets on the ball — his top three ball-collection areas highlighted (gold = primary). Reception is proxied by where his on-ball actions begin (no explicit receiver is recorded).

123
1 = primary, 2 = secondary, 3 = third · own goal left, attacking →
His collection zones
23%
Primary
Left Half-Space, Middle third
21%
Secondary
Central, Middle third
14%
Third
Right Half-Space, Middle third
These are the zones where he collected the ball most.
10

Where Does He Operate? — Every Zone

Every on-ball touch (pass, dribble, shot) binned into a 6×3 grid — raw counts of where Pierre-Emile Højbjerg actually gets on the ball. Hover any zone for its breakdown by action type, its share of all touches, and the exact coordinate range it covers.

Filter:
13932483531461219142353313114339531292067813
own goal left, attacking → · brighter + higher number = more touches

Passes only — completed vs incomplete, by zone

Same zone grid, restricted to passes so completed/incomplete and match filters actually mean something — a shot or a dribble has no "completed" in the pass sense.

0%2%6%9%3%0%1%6%16%14%4%0%1%4%11%16%6%0%
own goal left, attacking →
08

Every Pass This Season — completed vs incomplete

Every pass this season, plotted individually — green = completed, grey (dashed) = incomplete, gold = key pass. Filter by outcome or isolate one match below.

42Key pass
7Cross
5Cutback
187Progressive
144Long ball
67Switch
By zone — where the pass started → where it landed
124Outside → Inside
1099Inside → Inside
218Outside → Outside
571Inside → Outside
By direction
1079Forward
425Backward
744Sideways
own goal left, attacking →
04

Tactical patterns — how his football actually looks

Three clustered sequence diagrams from his own event data — his three busiest routes: the way he progresses, the pattern behind his chances, and where a turnover turns dangerous.

own goal left, attacking →
How does he progress the ball forward?
His most common route for progressing play: he switches it out from the left hs to the left wing, advancing it forward in the middle third — 20 passes worth 1.44 xT.
Where do his chances come from?
Of 42 key passes, his busiest route is a delivery where he switches it out from the central to the left hs, advancing it forward in the middle third — 4 times. The receiver isn't identifiable in this data, only where the pass started and ended.
Where does he lose the ball most?
This is a RATE, not a raw count — the share of his touches in each zone that end in a turnover, so a zone he simply plays in more often doesn't automatically look riskier. His weakest zone is the right half-space in the defensive third: 20% of his 56 touches there are lost (11 times).
7%1/15 lost20%11/56 lost14%18/125 lost13%13/101 lost10%2/21 lost11%9/84 lost11%34/316 lost9%42/476 lost8%40/532 lost8%14/171 lost12%4/34 lost19%12/63 lost11%9/82 lost16%18/116 lost16%9/56 lostRWRHSCLHSLWDEFMIDATT
13

Crosses & Cutbacks

7 crosses (0.22/90, 2 completed) and 5 cutbacks (0.16/90, 3 completed) — two separate wide-delivery patterns into the box, each its own map with a completed/failed filter. Neither is a tagged event, so both are inferred from pass geometry — the intended end point of a failed attempt is still real data (an interception doesn’t erase where the ball was aimed): a cross is a pass aimed into the box starting from a wide channel; a cutback starts almost on the byline but is squared back rather than driven forward, aimed centrally around the box. The completed-cross count was checked against this platform’s own real match-level cross totals and lands within about 1 cross of the true count.

Crosses — close-up on the final third
Cutbacks — close-up on the final third
completedfailed (dashed)close-up on the box — attacking ↑ toward goal
Out of possession

Out of possession

Where and how he defends and presses.

15

How & where does he defend?

373 defensive actions across the season (11.7/90). Where he wins the ball, and how — the core question for a defender. Aerial duels are not recorded for this competition, so aerial dominance is not measured here.

click a card to isolate that action type · own goal left, attacking →
38
tackles · 68% won
27
interceptions · 0.8/90
159
recoveries · 5.0/90
48
clearances · 1.5/90
21
blocks
41
avg action height
51
won high (att 3rd)
187
middle third
135
own third
Vision AI A mid-block defender. He wins the ball mainly by stepping in — tackles, interceptions & recoveries outweigh clearances. 224 proactive ball-wins (7.0/90), tackle success 68%. He defends high, stepping out to intercept — suits a high line.
16

Can he play under pressure?

Split by how hard the opponent pressed (opponent PPDA — lower = more intense press). Can Pierre-Emile Højbjerg still play out when the opponent presses high? His build-up quality split by press intensity — the key question for a ball-playing defender. Tiers of ~10-12 matches — directional evidence, not proof.

press tier
completion
prog /90
line-breaks /90
xT /90
High press (PPDA 5.6, 10m)
84%
5.0
4.8
1.19
Mid press (PPDA 9.7, 10m)
88%
6.2
4.5
1.46
Low press (PPDA 14.6, 12m)
94%
6.4
4.3
1.80
Team

Team context

How much of the team runs through him, and what changes without him.

17

Impact on the Team

Marseille's output per match with Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (32 matches) versus without him (2 matches). Insufficient evidence — the without-sample is only 2 matches; treat every Δ below as noise until more games exist. What his own defending should move — goals conceded and results — leads; attacking output (largely out of a defender's hands) is shown after, for context. A proper on-off model needs many more minutes.

WITH (32)
WITHOUT (2)
Δ
goals against /match
1.34
1.00
+0.34
points /match
1.75
1.50
+0.25
goals for /match
1.81
2.50
-0.69
xG for /match
1.56
0.00
+1.56
18

His Share of the Team

Of everything Marseille produced this season, the categories where the biggest share ran through Pierre-Emile Højbjerg specifically — his share of the team total, not a per-90 rate.

category
share
him / team
final-third entries
13%
367 / 2769
threat added by passing (xT)
9%
56.4 / 627.7
half-space entries
9%
164 / 1910
Recruitment

Style and verdict

Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.

20

Playing-Style Profile

Not raw event counts — football style scores: weighted models scored 0–100 against the 258 defensive mids in the pool (min 450 min). This is what separates players who post similar numbers but play differently. Proxy dimensions are inferred from on-ball data; true off-ball running / under-pressure context is not measured.

Tempo controller82%Deep-lying playmaker81%Ball-winning 651%
Why Tempo controller 82%: a weighted blend of retention 87 (weight 35%) + build-up 67 (weight 30%) + press resistance 74 (weight 20%) + progression 81 (weight 15%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
Elite
passing directness, final-third threat, box threat, retention, carrying
Strong
receiving zones, transition, progression, creativity, line-breaking, press resistance, through-balls
Average
crossing, build-up, dribbling, defensive aggression
Weak
ball-winning, territory (wide vs central)
Unknown
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Passing directness
98
Final-third threat
90
Box threat
88
Retention
87
Carrying
87
Receiving zones
84
Transition ~proxy
83
Progression
81
Creativity
78
Line-breaking
76
Press resistance ~proxy
74
Through-balls ~proxy
71
Crossing
69
Build-up
67
Dribbling
62
Defensive aggression
53
Ball-winning
32
Territory (wide vs central)
31
21

Similar Players — in style space

Closest comparables measured on the style scores above, within the same position family — so it separates how players are alike, not just how much they touch the ball. Each line explains the shared strength and the divergent mechanism. A light physical-profile term (height / weight; this player: 187 cm / 81 kg) is included at a quarter of one style axis's weight — enough to break ties between stylistic twins, not to override style. Scope: pooled across the Ligue 1, Bundesliga, La Liga, Premier League and Serie A, percentiled within each player's own league before comparing — a match from another league is marked with its league name.

Style, not quality: a high match here means two players tend to produce the ball in similar ways — it is not a ranking, a scouting recommendation, or a claim that they are equally good.

Teun Koopmeiners Juventus · Serie A · 185 cm / 84 kg
85%
Driven by: final-third threat (12%), progression (10%), carrying (9%). Different mechanism — Højbjerg more via passing directness; Koopmeiners more via territory (wide vs central), line-breaking.
Manuel Locatelli Juventus · Serie A · 185 cm / 75 kg
85%
Driven by: transition (13%), final-third threat (10%), passing directness (9%). Different mechanism — Locatelli more via ball-winning, through-balls.
Leon Goretzka Aston Villa · Premier League · 189 cm / 82 kg
82%
Driven by: retention (12%), box threat (12%), final-third threat (10%). Different mechanism — Højbjerg more via passing directness, crossing.
Ellyes Skhiri Koln · Bundesliga · 185 cm / 74 kg
81%
Driven by: retention (13%), transition (11%), carrying (11%). Different mechanism — Højbjerg more via box threat, passing directness; Skhiri more via build-up.
Himad Abdelli Marseille · 185 cm / 81 kg
78%
Driven by: box threat (15%), carrying (14%), transition (12%). Different mechanism — Højbjerg more via passing directness; Abdelli more via territory (wide vs central).
Bryan Cristante Roma · Serie A · 186 cm / 80 kg
78%
Driven by: transition (20%), passing directness (13%), final-third threat (12%). Different mechanism — Højbjerg more via retention, press resistance; Cristante more via defensive aggression, ball-winning.
22

Summary

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg is a tempo controller / deep-lying playmaker: 90% completion, 144 line-breaks and 5.9 progressive passes /90, resisting pressure with 52% dribble success. A central controller. [Off-ball screening position and scanning need tracking data.]

Based on 32 matches (2866 minutes) this season — a reliable read. He profiles as a tempo controller / deep-lying playmaker — best used in a system built around that identity. His biggest room for growth is build-up — even a modest improvement there would meaningfully lift his overall tempo controller profile.
✨ This report is interactive

Click any stat card to filter its map, hover a dot for the exact match, and use the dropdowns to slice passes zone-to-zone. Nothing here is static.

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