Eric Dier- defender or midfielder ?

[Spurs72]

He is a utility player who should only play when others are unavailable, or in the domestic cups.
That is spot on, Dier is not a Starter why is played like he is.

 

[spursrayray]

Dier + rose was awful against liverpool

 

[carpediem991]

Getting worse every season. Was such a great asset until the end of 16/17. then probably got caught by his own hype...

 

[WiganSpur]

He's a centre back who should take Alderweireld's spot should he leave.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

I don't know exactly what he is but I know what he isn't, ie. a CM of a suitable standard for a team that finished top 3 thrice in a row. I don't know if we've seen him as a CB for Tottenham in a major competition for all of 2018. The argument for him his that he is still young and has a couple of good seasons in PL in the past, so he is young with a decent ceiling.

 

[coys200]

He just needs to admit to himself he is a CB. I think with time playing there he could be a very good one. Will be best for him the club and us.

 

[Primativ]

He is just a very very average player. I actually think he's an even worse CB. Easily gets caught out by the long ball. Suffers bad lapses of concentration. Likes to a play a hospital pass every few weeks or every game sometimes even.

Honestly, he's actually a worse player now than he was 3 years ago, and this has been a consistent regression, not a sudden thing.

 

[St José Dominguez]

If he’s going to insist on playing at DM he needs to rediscover the fire inside that’s been absent for couple of seasons now. He needs to play like Liverpool CMs do, high intensity, constant pressure and basically playing like a man possessed. If he can’t do that I’m not sure he should stay beyond next summer, what he offers us in CM right now just isn’t helpful to overall performance.

One thing for certain is he needs time on the bench to refocus. I don’t know what the deal is with Wanyama but he’s never going to get fit if he isn’t starting games and right now we need to get him fit.

 

[ClintEastwould]

The most glaring weakness in our squad is now blind inducing obvious. It sucks because I really like him as a bloke from what I’ve seen but he is the textbook definition of the word limited. There is not an ounce of spectacular in him and once he stopped giving it 100% he’s been shown up as bang average.

 

[Davo99]

The more this season goes on, the more I’d be willing to sell him. He’s been woeful.

 

[guy]

He has been the worst player this season. His passing has been terrible. of those 208 times we've given the ball away he is probably responsible for a quarter of them.

Him and Kane need to go off and regather themselves.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Dier is so one paced it’s painful. Against most sides we can accommodate it because they’re too scared to press us. As soon as we play quality opposition he gets shown up for what he is - a defender playing out of position. I understand Poch wants him in the team for his attitude but it feels as though he has a blind spot on his skill set. We simply can’t have someone so immobile in midfield if we are going to be a pressing team. I watched Dier disposessed numerous times last night, or simply just sidestepped and he didn't have the dynamism to do anything about it. Poch needs to be brave and commit to labelling him as a defender because I feel he is getting found out right now. Teams are targeting him because they know he can’t handle being pressed. Add that to Dembele’s sharp decline and our midfield suddenly looks a huge problem

 

[chrisd2k]

The problem is hes neither atm. Other than a good attitude (I assume) he really doesnt have a lot going for him.

 

[Primativ]

Dier is so one paced it’s painful. Against most sides we can accommodate it because they’re too scared to press us. As soon as we play quality opposition he gets shown up for what he is - a defender playing out of position. I understand Poch wants him in the team for his attitude but it feels as though he has a blind spot on his skill set. We simply can’t have someone so immobile in midfield if we are going to be a pressing team. I watched Dier disposessed numerous times last night, or simply just sidestepped and he didn't have the dynamism to do anything about it. Poch needs to be brave and commit to labelling him as a defender because I feel he is getting found out right now. Teams are targeting him because they know he can’t handle being pressed. Add that to Dembele’s sharp decline and our midfield suddenly looks a huge problem

The problem is, it isn't a sudden problem. I'm hardy a football manager, just a Spurs fan who thinks he knows a bit about football, and I could see last season and certainly over the summer, that

1. Dier was the worst player in our first 11 and the most upgrade able.
2. It was clear LAST SEASON that Dembele was already declining and that this season would be a season too far.

I was absolutely comfortable with Dembele being sold in the summer, it all made sense. I was happy that that the coaching staff seemed on the same page and they could see what I could see, and then all of a sudden he is staying, and we are relying on him to be our number 1 midfielder for this season. I find it baffling. One can only assume we wanted to move Dembele on but a failure to sign a new CM meant we were forced to rely on him yet again all the while knowing he can't cut it anymore. This is just incompetence and bad management.

Dier has been horrific in CM for over a year now. He is like an oil tanker in there he turns so slowly.

So then it comes down to relying on Winks to somehow raise our CM level, a kid who has never IMO displayed enough quality to be a regular starting 11 Spurs player at the level we are at currently. Then we have Wanyama and Sissoko.

It's a mess and what I find mental is some of us could see this happening, yet our management at Spurs did nothing to rectify it.

 

[coys200]

He’s actually very lucky we aren’t playing at WHL or he’d be getting dogs abuse.

 

[John48]

Not sure what he is at present, but I've put CB because I think he should be used there in a 3 to see whether he can fulfil his potential.

 

[kmk]

Say what you like about his performances (which have improved) but Eric Dier does have balls of steel.

1) He stepped up and took the deciding penalty for England in the shootout against Colombia at the World Cup.

2) He doesn't get intimidated by hostile fans

3) He is brave and never shirks a challenge.

 

[Stamford]

I like him, seems like a good bloke and he hates all the scums. Not sure about him starting for us though.

 

[Ben1]

Not a starter in a top 6 team, decent versatile cover at best.

Unfortunately, upsetting a few sensitive gooners and smashing Ramos in half isn't enough for a starting spot.

 

[kmk]

Not a starter in a top 6 team, decent versatile cover at best.

What about Henderson, Milner, Xhaka, Matic & Delph? They play for Top 6 sides but would struggle to start for us.