Is Spurs’ Eric Dier Falling Back to Earth?
By Ryan Wrenn
By the time the Premier League’s summer transfer window closed at the start of September, Eric Dier had won his place at the center of Spurs’ midfield.
It hadn’t been a long campaign. There were rumblings ahead of the season that the 21-year-old would be given a chance at showing his chops in defensive midfield. The season began, and there he was. No one thought it would last – least of all a certain writer on this very site – but last it did. He performed exceptionally well in the role throughout August, finally clinching the permenant starting role in an especially dominant display against Everton in the final weekend of the transfer window.
Prior to that game, the calls for a “proper” defensive midfielder were second only in volume to the calls for a backup striker. Names like Asier Illarramendi, Cheikhou Kouyaté and Victor Wanyama were all tossed around the rumor mill, each considered a superior option to Dier in the long term. Yet moves for those players, if they were even tried, came to nothing.
Spurs were better off not testing the transfer market. Dier has proven to be precisely what Tottenham needed in midfield: an advanced centre-back, shielding the area in front of the penalty area and laying off simple passes to his more adventurous teammates.
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Almost immediately a crack began to appear in Dier’s considerable armor. His style was rough around the edges, involving last-ditch tackles and aggressive marking. It was no surprise that he earned his fifth yellow card after just eight Premier League matches.
He missed the match against Liverpool, and ahead of the Reds’ visit to White Hart Lane more than a few thought Spurs might pay for Dier’s lack of discipline. That didn’t happen – Spurs drew 0-0 in a relatively even game – but there was another consequence to Dier’s absence. It proved that Spurs could manage the same level of defensive performance without him.
Mousa Dembélé and Dele Alli paired in central midfield to great effect. Rather than one of them play-acting in the Dier role, staying deep and being the base on which the team’s attack balanced, they exchanged those duties, surging forward in a pivot when Spurs were in possession. It was precisely the kind of play Mauricio Pochettino wanted from Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason last season. That experiment ended in disaster due to the fact that neither player was much interested in tracking back when needed. Dembélé and Alli, however, were exceptionally willing and able to do just that.
Since that game two things have happened: Dier’s sharp edges have been dulled, and he’s often been out-shined by his partner in central midfield.
Anxious to avoid another suspension and perhaps knowing that his long-term viability as a defensive midfielder was at risk, Dier drew back from the tackles and harassment with which he made his name just months before. That’s not a negative per se – Dier’s attempted to exchange that physical style with a mental game, relying on positioning more than force in much the same way full-back Ben Davies has shown himself to be a better defender than Danny Rose despite not putting up the same hard numbers. Consequently, Dier has yet to earn a single yellow card since his suspension.
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It’s hard to say what influence that evolution has had at Spurs because of the second change in midfield. With Alli and occasionally Dembélé partnering with Dier in midfield, the Englishman’s progress isn’t exactly happening in isolation. He’s been allowed to experiment and grow with such a capable two-way player alongside him. One has to wonder, though, if Pochettino might eventually return to a Dembélé/Alli axis. It would be a style better suited for Pochettino’s high-energy pressing tactics, though it could leave Spurs vulnerable to more counter-attacks.
Spurs, of course, haven’t exactly suffered for Dier’s shift in style. They still remain unbeaten since opening day, and it’s not impossible that they will continue that streak through the new year. Stability is the key for now and Pochettino won’t want to upset that balance anytime soon. Still, Dier must have the possibility of dropping back down the depth chart hanging over his head every game.