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Eric Dier

Gotta say I thought that was his best game for us for a long while. I felt he played really well yesterday - and I don’t think the Pen was 400% his fault, it was a bit soft (although we would have taken it) but Winks did just stand there and watch him.

He was better last night but he was done like a kipper by 'paul' for sure. Winks was not culpable for the goal, Eric has to own it, which I think he will.
 
He was better last night but he was done like a kipper by 'paul' for sure. Winks was not culpable for the goal, Eric has to own it, which I think he will.
While Dier should've just accepted that he had been beaten and left it to the rest of the defence to see if they could stop a goal from that position (probably 50-50 I'd say) if Winks wants to be a defensive midfielder (which seems to be how Mourinho is playing him) then he absolutely has to go and help Dier by doubling up on Pogba on the ball in that sort of area.

As I said in the game thread, I thought our central defensive pairing yesterday was as good as I have seen it for a while. Dier looks fitter, leaner and sharper and with more games there I think he could become a very good centre half. Put a really good defensive midfield player in front of them and I think we'll be fine in that area.
 
Thought he played well and a it looks like he is getting his fitness back after a bad year with illness and injury. I still believe he is a important player for us going forward.
 
He was better last night but he was done like a kipper by 'paul' for sure. Winks was not culpable for the goal, Eric has to own it, which I think he will.

Dier got done and is culpable but Winks 100% is culpable for his part. It's his responsibility to provide some cover for the likely danger and he stood watching and didn't see where the danger was. It was dreadful play from a player who is very suspect defensively.

Thought Dier was outstanding other than that last night. Not a big fan of his but he was very good in 2-3 games before the lockdown and our best player (for me) last night.
 
Agreed, and CB is his position. In my view, he's our first choice CB

Would not disagree with that, i thought there were good signs last night with Dier and Sanchez playing as a pair. I love/d both Toby and Jan as a pairing but i think we have seen the best of both of them.
 

I'm of the mind that he had a great game, apart from the penalty he gave away (which somehow didn't make it in to a 28 second clip of highlights...). It's like congratulating your taxi driver for excelling for 80% of the trip despite that the journey ended in crashing through someone's living room window.

It's not a comprehensively great performance if it's tarnished, such is the life of a defender. Once he got done by Pogba he just couldn't resist trying to recover it at great cost. In a CB pairing he reminds me a bit of Kaboul but with slightly better distribution, always a lapse in concentration in there.
 
Thought he played well and a it looks like he is getting his fitness back after a bad year with illness and injury. I still believe he is a important player for us going forward.
An important player as long as he is at CB. He just looks physically more comfortable there and has good defensive instincts. I think Mourinho will be good for Dier to take his game to the next level....
 
I’ve been critical of Dier and would have preferred to have seen Toby starting, but he played well and pogba went down far too easily. Why didn’t Toby start?
 
I'm of the mind that he had a great game, apart from the penalty he gave away (which somehow didn't make it in to a 28 second clip of highlights...). It's like congratulating your taxi driver for excelling for 80% of the trip despite that the journey ended in crashing through someone's living room window.

It's not a comprehensively great performance if it's tarnished, such is the life of a defender. Once he got done by Pogba he just couldn't resist trying to recover it at great cost. In a CB pairing he reminds me a bit of Kaboul but with slightly better distribution, always a lapse in concentration in there.
Whilst I like and agree the taxi driving analogy I think in the case of the pen he just got ‘done’ rather than it being a concentration issue. He did have the odd lapse in possession in midfield but for the most part I think my question mark over Dier is about his mobility, which I was pleased to see had improved during the rest period and if he can string a few games at centre back together through the rest of the season and a good pre season means he will be an asset for us. I think he must try and play there all the time to gain the instincts of how to behave in the penalty area as opposed to midfield
Sanchez is the polar opposite, his concentration lapse was saved by Lloris, I do wonder if a back 3 would be the best way to utilise our centre backs, with us buying some wing backs in the summer and adding Davies into the centre back pool.
 
Whilst I like and agree the taxi driving analogy I think in the case of the pen he just got ‘done’ rather than it being a concentration issue. He did have the odd lapse in possession in midfield but for the most part I think my question mark over Dier is about his mobility, which I was pleased to see had improved during the rest period and if he can string a few games at centre back together through the rest of the season and a good pre season means he will be an asset for us. I think he must try and play there all the time to gain the instincts of how to behave in the penalty area as opposed to midfield
Sanchez is the polar opposite, his concentration lapse was saved by Lloris, I do wonder if a back 3 would be the best way to utilise our centre backs, with us buying some wing backs in the summer and adding Davies into the centre back pool.
I’ve always thought a back 3 would suit the players we have and it is basically what we play when we attack with Davies coming row central
Could be argued that it suits Aurier and Sessegnon more anyway
I think an issue is who we play up top though as it means “less” attackers but could mean getting Ndombele, Lo Celso and maybe sissoko in midfield
I think the freedom could work for Lo Celso and Ndombele though
 
Whilst I like and agree the taxi driving analogy I think in the case of the pen he just got ‘done’ rather than it being a concentration issue. He did have the odd lapse in possession in midfield but for the most part I think my question mark over Dier is about his mobility, which I was pleased to see had improved during the rest period and if he can string a few games at centre back together through the rest of the season and a good pre season means he will be an asset for us. I think he must try and play there all the time to gain the instincts of how to behave in the penalty area as opposed to midfield
Sanchez is the polar opposite, his concentration lapse was saved by Lloris, I do wonder if a back 3 would be the best way to utilise our centre backs, with us buying some wing backs in the summer and adding Davies into the centre back pool.
I don't think we need to play 3 at the back. Sanchez had one miscued header that was it. If playing 3 at the back then you need two of your centre halves to be comfortable at full back (as they will be getting pulled out wide and faced up 1 v 1 by the opponents wide forwards quite often). When we had peak Toby and Jan this was fine. Dier would drop in the make a central defender and Toby and Jan would fan right or left to cover that space as necessary. The fact that both Toby and Jan are excellent on the ball also meant that Walker and Rose could bomb on and we would be comfortable passing it out of defence with those two. As Bedford says - maybe we could recreate that somewhat by using Davies as the left sided centre half, on the right side though we either have to have Toby (who probably no longer has the pace) or Sanchez who doesn't have the ability on the ball. In that game against Man Utd I think having a proper defensive midfielder who was able to successfully stop Fernandes dictating the attacking play for Man Utd would've been more effective than a third centre half. Having one very effective DM would also have freed up one of our deep two to get a bit further forward and actually give us an option to be able to play our way out instead of having to continually go long and turn the ball straight back over to Man Utd all the time.

If we can get a proper defensive midfielder in next season who is also a good passer of the ball, then I think Sanchez and Dier would make a good complimentary pair at the centre of defence. I would then just play Sessegnon and Aurier as attacking full backs, akin to the way that Walker and Rose played under Poch in the seasons that we finished 3rd and 2nd, if we can afford to get in better full backs then happy days, but if not lets play to both of those players strengths.
 
I don't think we need to play 3 at the back. Sanchez had one miscued header that was it. If playing 3 at the back then you need two of your centre halves to be comfortable at full back (as they will be getting pulled out wide and faced up 1 v 1 by the opponents wide forwards quite often). When we had peak Toby and Jan this was fine. Dier would drop in the make a central defender and Toby and Jan would fan right or left to cover that space as necessary. The fact that both Toby and Jan are excellent on the ball also meant that Walker and Rose could bomb on and we would be comfortable passing it out of defence with those two. As Bedford says - maybe we could recreate that somewhat by using Davies as the left sided centre half, on the right side though we either have to have Toby (who probably no longer has the pace) or Sanchez who doesn't have the ability on the ball. In that game against Man Utd I think having a proper defensive midfielder who was able to successfully stop Fernandes dictating the attacking play for Man Utd would've been more effective than a third centre half. Having one very effective DM would also have freed up one of our deep two to get a bit further forward and actually give us an option to be able to play our way out instead of having to continually go long and turn the ball straight back over to Man Utd all the time.

If we can get a proper defensive midfielder in next season who is also a good passer of the ball, then I think Sanchez and Dier would make a good complimentary pair at the centre of defence. I would then just play Sessegnon and Aurier as attacking full backs, akin to the way that Walker and Rose played under Poch in the seasons that we finished 3rd and 2nd, if we can afford to get in better full backs then happy days, but if not lets play to both of those players strengths.

A back three would probably suit Foyth (if he has a future at the club). He'd be comfortable on the right hand side and is good on the ball.
 
Dier has a year left on his contract. Mourinho will continue to play him until he signs a new one. That's my cynical take.
 
Dier got done and is culpable but Winks 400% is culpable for his part. It's his responsibility to provide some cover for the likely danger and he stood watching and didn't see where the danger was. It was dreadful play from a player who is very suspect defensively.

Thought Dier was outstanding other than that last night. Not a big fan of his but he was very good in 2-3 games before the lockdown and our best player (for me) last night.

Agreed, they covered it afterwards and it showed Winks just standing there and not covering.
 
Dier has a year left on his contract. Mourinho will continue to play him until he signs a new one. That's my cynical take.

I think Dier is the type of player Mourinho will like and could mould, he's always liked players who can show some leadership and follow the managers instructions. I think he'll do both of those things.

That said I'm not sure he's good enough to be CB for a team chasing titles which is where I hope we get too.
 
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