Pochettino: Tottenham’s Quality in Squad is the Power of this Team
Depth and the quality of players have not been an issue for Tottenham this season unlike in previous years.
Because Toby Alderweireld has suffered a bruised knee (Mauricio Pochettino calls it a “very heavy knock on his leg”), Tottenham will have to shore up at central defense against Bayer Leverkusen tomorrow in the Champions League.
Perhaps due to Kevin Wimmer’s status as the third-choice center-back in Pochettino’s depth chart and the fact that he is left-footed like Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier will get every opportunity to start in Alderweireld’s place.
When asked by a reporter if the Argentine manager is confident in starting Dier at central defense — despite beginning his playing career in the backline — Pochettino showed his trust in the 22-year-old to help maintain Spurs’ impenetrable defense this term (six goals conceded all season, four off of set pieces).
“The important thing is that we trust in him,” Mauricio Pochettino said (via Tottenham’s official website).
“It’s not important the position he might play tomorrow – midfield, centre-back or full-back – we believe in him and we trust in him, we trust him, his personality and his skill. For me, Eric is a player who can develop his game in different positions.”
At this point in his young Spurs career, Eric Dier is quickly becoming Tottenham’s swiss army knife. A jack of all trades but has found his place as a defensive midfielder. Even though Victor Wanyama took his spot this year.
Having a versatile player like Dier on the squad is beneficial when Spurs run into injuries like Alderweireld going down this past Saturday.
For instance, the England international has seen his minutes reduced due to injury but also because Wanyama’s in form. Due to his early days playing as a center-back, Dier will return to the starting XI once again since September 18.
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Losing the Belgian defender during the middle of a tough stretch of six games in 23 days would normally be cause for concern. But after Tottenham responded well to adversity when losing Hugo Lloris, Mousa Dembélé and Harry Kane this year, there’s plenty of optimism going around that the team will be fine.
And the reason why, according to Mauricio Pochettino, is because of the depth this year. It’s much better than in previous seasons which was holding them back from competing in all fronts at a consistent level. That’s not a problem now.
“In football, it [injuries] can always happen. The squad is always important, the 25 players, and we really believe that,” Pochettino said.
“The quality of the squad and the competition between them is important.”
“That is the power of the team, that everyone believes they can play, everyone has the possibility to fight for a place in the starting 11 in different competitions and if we want to achieve big things at the end it’s important to keep that mentality in our squad.”
When Lloris went down, Michel Vorm stepped up. Dembélé who began the season suspended for four games before suffering a hamstring strain, saw Victor Wanyama maintain the ship at central/defensive midfield until he returned.
After Kane picked up an ankle injury, Son Heung-Min and Vincent Janssen (with his hold-up play) combined with the rest of the team led Spurs to a five-match unbeaten streak since their win over Sunderland.
Next: Tottenham's Pochettino: Alderweireld's Injury Not Serious UPDATE
So despite numerous injuries to key players since the Premier League season began, even if none of them were serious, Spurs still had to play well to get positive results.
And they have done that based on their current form by dominating opponents to take third place in the league table and trail by one point from first place.
The moment that Tottenham remain healthy, who knows how dangerous they could be and the damage they could do in all competitions.