This season, Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier has appeared in 31 fixtures for the north London club, averaging 87 minutes per game in Premier League fixtures.
Recently, manager Antonio Conte called 28-year-old one of the better defenders in England. Dier spoke in an interview with Football.London about his current form, which he feels is the best of his career.
“I feel for me this is consistently my best season I have had so far at Tottenham. My consistency, overall [in any position], I don’t think I’ve ever shown the consistency in the performances that I have shown this season and I feel like my football is the best it has been in my opinion,” Dier said.
Furthermore, Dier discussed his relationship with Conte since the Italian tactician arrived in November. The England international stated that it’s nice to have a manager who goes out in public to give a glowing review when they see them playing well; adding it provides confidence.
“It is always very nice when a manager, especially one like him, says those things, it gives me a lot of confidence, but the thing I pay most attention to from his words are that I have a lot of space for improvement and I think that is really the thing he says that I focus on the most,” Dier said.
“I want to fill that space, fill that potential, as much as possible, as much as he thinks possible.”
Dier then went on to talk about how he and Cristian Romero understand what Conte is demanding from his center-backs.
“That is what the manager wants in the center-backs, especially on the sides, but from all three of us he wants us to break the lines and be aggressive,” Dier said.
“We are playing a back five but it is rarely a back five, someone is always trying to break the lines for us to be more proactive and more aggressive and allow us to press up the pitch. I think that Cuti, one of his best qualities is that he is very aggressive and he reads the game very well and the same for Ben [Davies] as well.”
The Tottenham defender also wasn’t one of the center-backs chosen by England national team manager Gareth Southgate, who went with other options such as Harry Maguire, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Ben White, and Tyrone Mings.
He doesn’t have the quality. The fact he has to tell us that he has is a dead giveaway.
I am sure Dan Kilpatrick is one of those Spurs journalists who appears on blogs now and then (if not I apologise) but he has just written this in an article and it really hit home.
“Four of the last nine League goals Spurs have conceded have come from set-pieces
Part of the problem is surely that Spurs simply do not have many aerially dominant players, with none of their three regular centre-backs especially imposing in the air”
He is not wrong.
That bang to the head he took was worse than I thought
Just do not think he is good enough ..he and Davies crumble under the high press which leads to panic confusion and poor distribution from the back..would never question his commitment but don’t believe he has the quality.
When players start bugging themselves up it just reeks of BS. Dier was woeful v United and decent v a toothless Brighton. Against West Ham Dier was one of 2 CBs , the other being Davies who distributed the ball straight to West Ham as they employed the high press. He is consistently poor when being pressed.
Being at Tottenham a long time means precisely nothing , how many were at and are still at Tottenham despite being woeful. It is just a symptom of the anti transfer Levy.
The defence looks a little better because of Romero and a better midfield in front of it . It is still prone to panic and confusion and I believe we need a stronger CB with more ability confidence and leadership than Dier can offer.
Would never question his commitment but I just dont think he is good enough.
🤣
For me Dier is an average or maybe slightly above avg prem CB typicaly doing business on midtable clubs. It’s hard to get through a game without a Dier misplayed pass deep in our zone or an instance or 2 of him marking no one in the box. Otherwise he’s mostly solid. The fact that Spurs have looked much better at the back with him than without tells you where we are right now.
You know how good you are when you are behind Harry Maguire in the England pecking order.
There appears to be a talking up of some of our players outside of the Kane and Son show, certain individuals receiving praise from pundits but also banging their own drum, Dier is one that has done this year in year out.
Sorry but I’m past the stage of being convinced in his abilities, I just don’t believe in him or his temperament as a player.
My feelings on Dier have changed – the early part of his days at Spurs I would never believe he could revert to a top CB . Slowly he has evolved , prone to the odd mistake , but definitely someone you would want in the trenches . There is a lot of Trench warfare in the Prem , especially among the big sides .
Eric also has Spurs running through his veins , he is prepared to listen , he IS IMPROVING and at times looks a very assured centre half .
Romero bizarrely appears to be his mentor and I think that by the start of next season we may have a formidable pairing to boast .
Instead of being short in a number of areas , Spurs are a little harder to beat , we have some ways to go , but do you not get the feel that the squad seems more unified than for a long while . No petulance [ ndombele , alli , aurier ] more TOGETHER . Or am I just foolin myself ??
Once upon a short time ago a centerbacks were exactly what they do. Play lateral across the back even though they have less space to cover as your wingbacks were what they should be defenders first. In this day of left and right wingbacks “bombing” down the flanks, whatever that means, we now need specialist to play defense. Sanchez, poor example here, we paid $42 pounds for and anywhere central to left, God help us. We just need three quality backs whatever foot is the dominate one.
He comes in for a lot of stick around these parts, but I think he’s mostly quite good – he seems to be a lot less of a liability under Conte and cut out some of those moments of madness he had under Nuno.
Find a quality left footer to bump Davies to the bench and we might actually have a decent first pick back 3.