Eric Dier: Cup Final Not on Minds of Tottenham Players

In the aftermath of the club reaching its first domestic cup final since 2015, Eric Dier talked about the final as something  for Tottenham to look forward to in the future.

Originally, Tottenham Hotspur would be following up their semifinal win with a game late next month at Wembley to determine who takes home the 2020-21 EFL Carabao Cup. And normally most Premier League teams would have at least 20 matches played instead of 17 for most. Such is the result of Covid on sport, regardless, Spurs do have something to look forward too, according to Dier after defeating Brentford 2-0.

Dier: “It Feels Fantastic”

In speaking with TottenhamHotspur.com after the match, Eric Dier said that, “it feels fantastic. It is great to be in a final, the first opportunity to be in one and we took it.” Dier’s language about taking the opportunity is exactly what we want to hear from the players as it reiterates the match-by-match mentality that makes every game important.

Dier continued about how he “was there as a team” in his first season with the club. After six years, “to be back there is fantastic and an opportunity at Wembley is always great”. Of course, Wembley being the home-away-from-home for many of the current Spurs during the construction of the stadium provides that extra air of familiarity to the surroundings and something further to look forward too.

Spurs Learning from Recent Results

As the English defender continued, he referenced how Spurs have been learning from some of their recent matches. Noting after Moussa Sissoko scored a “fantastic header”, having the lead provided “the platform, with recent results from that position, we really made sure that we stayed on it”.

It was that effort of staying on it that ultimately led to Spurs second goal, as Eric noted that by staying “on the front foot” Tottenham, “kept creating chances and we got the second goal in the second half and that made things easier”.  Even after the Bees were reduced to 10-men, Tottenham “continued to press”.

“it feels fantastic. It is great to be in a final, the first opportunity to be in one and we took it.”

– Eric Dier on Tottenham reaching Carabao Cup Final

Competitive at First Opportunity

Maybe the most special piece to takeaway is the mindset of making good at the first opportunity. Three times during his three minutes Eric Dier talked about getting the job done and being competitive “the first opportunity”. How the objective is to “win every game, be competitive in every competition and we’ve done that at our first opportunity”.  And while “it means so much” to Dier and the team, as Eric noted, “it is just the beginning” as Tottenham “have more work to do” and the final is “a long way away and we have a lot of games before then”.

Hearing Dier talk about the focus going back to what comes next and the one game at a time mentality will be exactly what coach José Mourinho wants to hear from one of his leaders. In truth Tottenham have no other choice is they want to “be competitive in every competition” as Dier said.

Between now and that April 25 final at Wembley Tottenham will play a minimum of 19 matches. That 19 matches could be as many as 27 – not including any games in hand in League – between now and April 25 if Spurs advance in the FA Cup and Europa League. So ultimately, Dier is right on all accounts, it is nice to have something to look forward too, but there is no time to think about that match now. There are a lot more matches between now and April 25 and as we know Tottenham take them one game at a time.