Tottenham’s Eric Dier Urges Teammates to Bounce Back
With England in a must-win situation this Thursday against Wales, Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier has urged his teammates to bounce back after their 1-1 draw versus Russia.
Lost in the shuffle of a disappointing draw against Russia in the 92nd minute was the fact that England didn’t lose the match. Conceding a late goal will always feel like a loss, so there’s a good reason why everyone’s reaction was mostly — if not all — negative. But for Eric Dier, he knows that England must finish the game out without changing much.
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And looking back on what Roy Hodgson’s side was able to do against Russia for a majority of the game, despite Harry Kane and Dele Alli not being used properly, it’s true that not many changes must happen from now until Thursday.
A few slight tweaks here and there is fine, like Kane and Alli helping out in building up the play from midfield like they do with Tottenham, rather than sticking to their stationary roles and keeping formation.
What can’t happen is Hodgson making a drastic change in tactics, a shift in formation or swapping players in and out. Because the time to mess with the starting XI has long passed.
"“There is no reason to change the way we play against Wales,” said Eric Dier (via London Evening Standard).“We can’t let that late goal we conceded affect us. There were a couple of negatives that we need to work on for the Wales match, but we have to follow on the same path.”“We just need a bit more game intelligence and we need to be more ruthless.”"
There were chances for England to score more than one goal, but the Three Lions just couldn’t put it away. At the very least they knew that some of the things they tried worked.
"“In the first half we created so many chances and the game should have been over at half-time,” Dier continued. “We performed very well, that was the feeling I got. That was the feeling I was getting from the England fans, too.”“Everyone was very disappointed after the match, it was a killer blow, but that happens in football. It’s all about forgetting that, moving on and just going again for the next game.”"
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A mental lapse after scoring in the 73rd minute from Eric Dier’s free kick is to be expected after England wasn’t troubled by Russia who was more content to sit back, absorb pressure and then counterattack when they were able to win possession of the ball.
What Roy Hodgson’s side must do now is to learn from their mistakes that led to Russia’s equalizer and make sure it doesn’t happen again. If it does, it better happen earlier in the game rather than in the closing minutes.
But moreover, conceding a late goal is simply how football is like at times, as bad as that sounds. A cop-out if you will. Tottenham supporters know full well about opponents equalizing and drawing level with Spurs to spoil a win.
In order to make sure the Three Lions aren’t put in this same situation again, they have to finish better when they’re given the opportunity to do so — which sounds easier said than done no doubt.
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It’s a learning experience for a young England squad. Mistakes will happen.
"“We are going to make mistakes once in a while, it’s just a matter of everyone keeping faith in the way we want to play and having belief in it,” Dier added.“We should try it again. We showed that we were not scared to play our football.”“I felt we dominated the ball completely for the whole game. It wasn’t a case of Russia sitting off, we were just better than them.”"