Eric Dier officially has more front than Southend. In this recent interview with the Guardian’s David Hytner, the Spurs defender who has been with us since 2014 believes that his disastrous errors are part of a wider team issue.
Dier’s blunder against West Ham was merely the latest and what was particularly galling was the Englishman’s attempt to make out like it was all Tanganga Ndombele’s fault.
Regular readers will be unsurprised to hear that I take a view of this nonsense down to Eric having been on our books for too long. There is a complacency lurking beneath any footballer who has been with a club for too long, which may in part explain how few old-timers that exist in the modern age. The battle to keep focused and to maintain concentration levels doesn’t become easier if you stay in one place.
This interview really reinforces just how deep the malaise runs at Hotspur Way, when a player who has been on the books for 7 seasons is reduced to reassuring fans that the latest flatlining isn’t his fault. I think we’ve heard enough.