How Spurs Adapt Without Eric Dier

Spurs haven’t had to plan for a Premier League without Eric Dier since October, but they might be forced into doing so again should the midfielder fail a late fitness test Monday.

Dier suffered a conclusion during a collision in last week’s 1-1 draw with West Brom, after which he was immediately removed from the match via substitution.

It was Ryan Mason who came in for Dier then, and it will likely be Mason on the pitch on Monday against Chelsea should the England international not be able to start.

Mauricio Pochettino faces a relative dearth of other options available to him. Nabil Bentaleb would be the closest to a like-for-like replacement for Dier, and the Algerian is still recovering from injury himself. That reduces the only viable options down to two: Mason and Tom Carroll, with the former being the one whom Pochettino has most recently favored, though only in Europa League matches.

Mason won’t be coming in to perform Dier’s role, however. Mousa Dembélé – Dier’s constant companion in central midfield – will shift into the more defensive role, allowing Mason to tackle the Belgian’s usual box-to-box role.

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It’s a role that Mason should be familiar with, seeing as how he played it alongside Bentaleb for the vast majority of Spurs’ Premier League matches last season. He was criticized then for being a bit too ambitious in his positioning or, put less politely, not disciplined enough for the defensive aspect of a central midfield role. The result was a space left behind him just large enough for Bentaleb to not effectively patrol on his own.

Despite failing to impress last season, Mason retained his role in the side at the beginning of the current campaign and, to his credit, seemed to have learned his lesson. While having Dier at his side helped, his forays forward were taken more intelligently, and he found a new willingness to stay deep, especially without the ball.

The real risk here then isn’t that Mason is a liability, it’s that if Dembélé moves into a more complete defensive role, Spurs will be missing out on the Belgian’s unique talents. It’s not just that Dembélé is arguably the best pure “presser” in the side – the player who can reliable close down an opponent to limit his options or, ideally, retrieve possession either directly or indirectly – but he’s also among the most composed players in Spurs’ squad. His ability to retain possession in the face of the opposition’s own press while also finding the best option when moving forward makes him the central spring that drives Spurs’ motor.

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Mason cannot replicate that contribution. The closest player in the squad who could would be Dele Alli, who is of course suspended for the remainder of the season. Pochettino will therefore need a better solution.

We can expect Mason to start deep and stay there, his license to move forward effectively revoked. The extra mettle and presence in midfield will not only make it easier to counter the influence of Willian and Cesc Fàbregas, but also free Dembélé up to work his magic when in possession. It won’t be exactly the balance Dier and Dembélé strike in Spurs’ midfield, but it will be close enough to remain reasonably confident that Chelsea won’t derive the significant advantage they might think they will in Dier’s absence.