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Eric Dier- defender or midfielder ?

Is Dier better in midfield or in defence ?

  • He is a defensive midfielder

    Votes: 67 21.6%
  • He is a central defender

    Votes: 97 31.3%
  • He is a utility player who should only play when others are unavailable, or in the domestic cups.

    Votes: 101 32.6%
  • We should just sell him in one of the next 2 windows. He’s just not good enough.

    Votes: 45 14.5%

  • Total voters
    310

Westmorlandspur

Well-Known Member
Feb 1, 2013
2,685
4,500
Dier would have been ideal against Watford but against Liverpool he gets shown up as his passing is not quick enough. In reality when everyone is 100 per cent fit and playing well Dier is not even a first choice. Wanyama was bought to take his place as DM and he doesn’t get in as a centre half at the moment. He has kept his place due to long term injuries to Toby and Wanyama in recent seasons. He just looks like a centre half playing in midfield.
 

ajspurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2007
22,987
31,167
Put Lamela and son back in a 3 behind Kane and the pressing returns.. It's as simple as that because that is how they naturally play. I'd be looking at those two and Lucas at the moment personally.

Fully agree, that's a pretty hungry hustling trio there, no pussyfooting and half-hearted challenges. Fast and creative with the ball, hungry and aggressive without it.
 

Donki

Has a "Massive Member" Member
May 14, 2007
14,451
18,966
He's not playing as holding midfielder ATM he's popping up on the left and right with Dembele holding, I have no idea what the he fuck Poch is doing. As a CB or a strictly holding midfielder he's a good player to have.
 

SugarRay

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2011
7,984
11,110
I think he’s going to end up being a waste of talent to a degree.

Hes a centre half for me, certainly if he wants to maximise his potential. He could potentially be England’s best centre half imo. Great on the ball for a defender, physical enough to mix it with virtually any striker ( remember him having a right battle with Diego Costa when he was just a pup in the league cup final )
He’s had a strange last year or so. I guess it can be argued his move to holding midfield went a little too well in terms of his long term career development.

He is never ever ever going to make a bonafide “proper” central midfielder though, I’m sure we can all agree on that!
 

rabbikeane

Well-Known Member
Mar 29, 2005
6,884
12,675
One thing's for sure, in midfield he can only play one role and that's as the anchor. Having other midfielders drop deeper than him is crazy, we'd be better off playing Skipp then.
 

DJS

A hoonter must hoont
Dec 9, 2006
31,261
21,760
He can only play midfield in a 4-2-3-1 where he can then slot back into defence during game if we alternate between back three.

He is severely limited as a midfielder if we want to play 3-4-2-1 (when we played this formation and played some of our best football we had Wanyama in there) - he was good in the back three though.

You could see even for England he couldn’t play in midfield when they were playing a back three.

So the answer for me is he is best in a back three in a 3-4-2-1 formation, although to play that formation we’d actually need two fully fit proper midfielders...

If we play a proper 4-2-3-1 and not this 4-1-2-1-2 bollocks he may be a bit more effective.

I loved Poch but one thing he does is play played in some stupid positions sometimes.

At the moment if Wanyama and Winks not completely ready (discounting Dembele as he’s knackered) then we need to play 4-2-3-1 with Dier as defensive midfielder and find someone such as Winks or Amos Tom play alongside him.

If Wanyama is available and actually not completely physically fucked as been speculated (and evidence from past year shows) then we go 3-4-2-1 and Dier can then either play in the back three or be benched.
 

BigVic

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2015
940
2,754
Ive been saying for a long time now Dier is not good enough for us in midfield, pretty sure i got shot down when i said it too.
 

jamesinashby

Well-Known Member
Jun 5, 2017
465
985
In a team that genuinely wish to be regarded as title contenders he comes under one category in my humble opinion...."Liability".

A prime example was his pathetic back pass in the the Liverpool game. Only a good save by Vorm saved his blushes. Sadly
In a team that genuinely wish to be regarded as title contenders he comes under one category in my humble opinion...."Liability".

I was a big fan of him when he arrived and was impressed by his versatility. I sometimes wonder if that has been his undoing. He must have so many systems in his brain plus what he is asked to do with England which would confuse the best of us. This last 12 to 15 months, for me, he seems to have gone backwards - prone to be caught out of position and too often his passing, once very good and creative, now too often gives the ball back to the opposition or puts us under pressure. Sadly, I have lost confidence in him these days. If Poch won't keep him in a regular role but insists on using him in different roles, I would tend to regard him more of a liability than being an asset. Having said all that I still think he is a good talented player but not with us. He helped enormously to get us where we are, but as we strive to move to the next level, for me he falls just short.

COYS
 

Krule

Carpe Diem
Jun 4, 2017
4,534
8,686
A prime example was his pathetic back pass in the the Liverpool game. Only a good save by Vorm saved his blushes. Sadly

I was a big fan of him when he arrived and was impressed by his versatility. I sometimes wonder if that has been his undoing. He must have so many systems in his brain plus what he is asked to do with England which would confuse the best of us. This last 12 to 15 months, for me, he seems to have gone backwards - prone to be caught out of position and too often his passing, once very good and creative, now too often gives the ball back to the opposition or puts us under pressure. Sadly, I have lost confidence in him these days. If Poch won't keep him in a regular role but insists on using him in different roles, I would tend to regard him more of a liability than being an asset. Having said all that I still think he is a good talented player but not with us. He helped enormously to get us where we are, but as we strive to move to the next level, for me he falls just short.

COYS
Perfect analysis and eloquently expressed 10/10 (y)
 

CarrickSpurgus

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
622
1,575
He's a liability in both midfield and defence, he's our weak link imo ,its heart in mouth time every time he gets the ball under any pressure .A squad player, big Vic should always start in front of him in midfield and he's not anywhere near the level of our other 3 CBs.
 

SdB

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2013
1,367
1,878
Ive been saying for a long time now Dier is not good enough for us in midfield, pretty sure i got shot down when i said it too.

Same, he has regressed massively.
Lazy fucker these days. Just watch him amble around pointing.
 

southlondonyiddo

My eyes have seen some of the glory..
Nov 8, 2004
12,599
15,012
For me he has regressed

I think some on here have got short memories. When he first starting playing in the role after obviously working very hard at it he was a revelation and had some great games bossing the middle of the park putting himself about, getting stuck in and popping the ball off nice and crisply

He’s been on a poor run of form for me and needs to step it up again
Really does look like he’s become complacent. Needs to keep improving as he has seriously stalled of late

Never ever a top Central Defender in a back 4. Doesn’t attack the ball and is pretty ordinary in the air

That header yesterday after Vorms initial mistake was pathetic
 

Zoltar60

Member
Sep 26, 2005
63
96
For me he has regressed

I think some on here have got short memories. When he first starting playing in the role after obviously working very hard at it he was a revelation and had some great games bossing the middle of the park putting himself about, getting stuck in and popping the ball off nice and crisply

He’s been on a poor run of form for me and needs to step it up again
Really does look like he’s become complacent. Needs to keep improving as he has seriously stalled of late

Never ever a top Central Defender in a back 4. Doesn’t attack the ball and is pretty ordinary in the air

That header yesterday after Vorms initial mistake was pathetic

Agreed, definetly a holding midfielder but he's gone backwards. Maybe being dropped for a period of time might actually help. Looks too comfortable, complacent: almost as if his place Is guaranteed whatever he does.
 

Tucker

Shitehawk
Jul 15, 2013
31,131
146,021
Eric Dier is a bit like a sofa bed. Handy to have, but never going to give you a great night’s sleep, or be a truly comfy sofa.
 

whitesocks

The past means nothing. This is a message for life
Jan 16, 2014
4,652
5,738
It is unfair to ask why Dier isn't pressing like he used to - no-one is pressing well, and unless everyone does it, opponents can play round you - Dier is more easily played round than most as he is slower.

He does instinctively press, but against the speed of the Liverpool strikers, our defence were not going to move up behind him, so he is left exposed.

The other thing that hasn't helped him is the bigger Wembley pitch - I can only remember one game at Wembley when he was outstanding, and that was against ManU. There is more ground to cover now and it is killing him.
NWHL comes with the same problem.

The 3rd thing against him other than a WC hangover, is the form of Ericsen. He's the one that usually makes Dier so effective, as he pulls into space and Dier feeds him. Without anyone moving into space Dier will just play it backwards, as he isn't good enough to carry the ball forward himself in the central areas. Few are.
 
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