Tottenham’s Eric Dier Isn’t Thinking About Suspension
With nine yellow cards to his name, Tottenham are on the verge of another Eric Dier suspension if he picks up his 10th yellow card against Manchester United.
To begin the 2015-16 Premier League season, Eric Dier who was playing as Tottenham’s new defensive midfielder, would quickly pick up five yellow cards in a span of eight games. That is almost roughly one booking per game.
Some of Dier’s challenges were rash, some weren’t but in the end, it was obvious that the England international was being a bit too reckless at times. Perhaps it had something to do with playing a new position? In any event, the 22-year-old would miss Tottenham’s home game against Liverpool which ended up being a 0-0 draw.
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At the time of Dier’s suspension, the timing could not have been much worse.
After beginning the season with no wins in four straight league matches, Tottenham would pull off three consecutive wins in the month of September. The start of October saw Spurs having to fight back in a 2-2 draw against Swansea City.
With 10 points won in four games, to lose Eric Dier when Tottenham were building some momentum was a big setback. Especially when they were facing a Liverpool side coached by the recently hired Jürgen Klopp.
Thankfully, Mousa Dembélé, who was returning from an injury was able to fill in for the England international and did a marvelous job. Now while the game ended in a goalless draw and two points were dropped, Mauricio Pochettino and co. managed to earn some positive results in Eric Dier’s absence.
Since getting suspended, Eric Dier admitted that he would need to alter his approach when it came to tackling players after playing higher up the pitch in midfield.
“I hold my hands up for three of the yellows but two were very dodgy in my opinion,” Dier said prior to Tottenham taking on Bournemouth on October 25th, 2015 (quotes via Daily Mail). “That’s football, you have to learn from it and move on.”
“I think I got about five yellow cards in my whole career as a defender. Then I move to midfield and I get five in a couple of months. I think that says something about the change in position and that maybe I will have to approach it differently.”
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“In midfield there is even less time to think and sometimes the decision to tackle is made on the spur of the moment. And if you are just half a second too late, it can be a foul and a booking. That’s the nature of the beast of that position.”
“I maybe need to be a bit more sensible. There are times when I have probably been a bit too aggressive. I’ll always take a yellow card if it helps the team and that’s happened once or twice.”
“But there have been times when I should have used my head more and maybe I need to stay on my feet a bit more. Be a bit more measured and a bit more passive.”
Fast forward to now and another possible suspension is looming ahead after Eric Dier picked up his ninth yellow card in a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on March 5th (his fourth yellow card in 20 games since being suspended).
Although after tomorrow’s game against Manchester United at White Hart Lane, Sunday is the final day in which players can receive a two-match ban for picking up 10 yellow cards. So basically Eric Dier needs to get past this game and he’s safe.
And after not committing a tackle or a foul in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield on April 2nd, it seems the plan for him is to proceed with a sense of caution and not jeopardize his team in the process.
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But then again, maybe Dier really isn’t thinking about possibly getting suspended after talking to Ham and High.
“I knew I was on nine yellow cards, but the manager hasn’t spoken to me and I haven’t really thought about it to be honest.”
“The next game is the most important one to me, and I’m sure the manager thinks the same way. It hasn’t really crossed my mind. Once you get out there, it’s a bit hard to be thinking about things like that.”
If Eric Dier picks up his 10th yellow card of the season, it would mean that he will miss two matches: Stoke City (away) and West Brom (home). Essentially he would be ruled out for the rest of April but return in May.
That’s something that Tottenham can’t afford if they’re still hoping to win the Premier League with six games remaining and seven points adrift of league leaders, Leicester City.