The Tottenham defence has been all over the place this season and Jose Mourinho has not yet been able to arrest the leaking of goals on a consistent basis, however, there are signs that he may finally have found a solution.
It was clear very early on what Mourinho was trying to do against Man Utd, he wanted to force them to take the initiative and not hit Tottenham on the counter-attack, something United have been good at this season.
United do not excel at forcing the game and by handing them possession Mourinho was looking to turn the tables and for Tottenham to then do the counter-attacking.
It nearly worked. Only a soft penalty saw the Tottenham backline breached and a lot of that had to do with the Eric Dier Davinson Sanchez partnership.
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Going forward there is every chance that Dier and Sanchez will form the central partnership with Toby Alderweireld reduced to a backup role.
There are still some weaknesses, Serge Aurier is not consistent enough at right-back and Ben Davies is not the best going forward on the left side but Mourinho will know that and will be working tirelessly to either get those players up to standard or find alternatives.
But sorting out the central defensive partnership was the priority and Mourinho may, just may, have finally found the right combination at the heart of the Tottenham defence.
Dier is 26, and as you say a seasoned international, so really he should be using his head more. I never felt that Toby and jen would be rash in the box, but i do feel like Jose thinks the future might be Sanchez and Dier due to constraints with money, and is now easing them in as a partnership. Having said that, i still feel Toby has some good years left in him, so i would say Toby and Sanchez or Toby and Dier, then he could pass on his experience to the other two..
so only a RB, DM and back up for Kane and we are sorted
He played Sanchez to counter United’s pace, Toby will be back in shortly. Dier needs more discipline in his tackling, he gave one pen and though he didn’t give away a second, Fernandes did dive, but I thought I saw Dier put a foot in and that is just what every attacker wants in the box contact, anything a hand an arm a leg, any excuse to go down and Dier was willing to oblige, he learnt nothing from the Pogba penalty. Dier is a seasoned International, when is he going to use his intelligence and read the game. Mourinho has his work cut out with him.
If part of the plan was for counter attack’s, then Toby would of been the player to select.
He is the one of the best CB in the prem for his passing out from the back to the forwards.
It does seem, like Poch, that Jose does have a liking for Dier. He’s a good player (squad), but not at the level we’re in need of.
I did not think United were going to score from open play, and i thought that Dier and Sanchez were responsible for that. United seemed to be targeting Aurier, seemed like a lot was coming down his side, but i think Aurier did OK in general. Also, i think the first Penalty was a soft one, and also, why did he not book Fernadez for diving after the second Pen was waved away by VAR… I felt like Moss was looking to give Unt something all game !!!