Three takeaways from frustrating Tottenham loss to West Ham
By Gary Pearson
2. Davinson Sanchez and Eric Dier cannot be team’s centre back pairing
How many times will Jose make the same mistake?
If Eric Dier or Davinson Sanchez start, Toby Alderweireld must be the second central defender. Dier and Sanchez have endured horribly inconsistent seasons, both of whom, if Spurs had other options, would have already lost their spots in the first team.
Rarely on the same wavelength, the dubious duo get pulled all over the park, one often leaving the other to cover the void left. Sanchez makes the wrong decision more often than not, while Dier doesn’t have the pace to make up for the Colombian’s errors. Dier also has a propensity to make rash decisions, rendering the pair wholly incapable of playing together in the same starting team.
Both centre backs were either partly or fully culpable for West Ham’s goals. Dier didn’t communicate with Lucas Moura, who let Pablo Fornals dart through the heart of Tottenham’s box unmarked. All the while Sanchez had yet again been pulled into no-man’s land, chasing after the ball like an addict to a fix. His departure left a massive void in the heart of defence, allowing Fornals to come directly across Dier’s space.
The Englishman instinctually followed Fornals, leaving Michail Antonio, West Ham’s most dangerous player, free to have his way from a few yards out. He deposited his own rebound with Japhet Tanganga unable to make up the ground in time. That was after just five minutes of play.
At first glance it looks like Tanganga’s mistake, but on closer inspection it was Dier, Sanchez and Moura who need to take accountability for a woeful sequence of play.
Dier and Sanchez were equally at fault on West Ham’s second, with both falling asleep minutes in the second half. Lingard blew by both defenders after Sanchez unsurprisingly wondered too far into midfield, chasing Antonio and getting too tight to the robust forward.
When will Jose come to his senses and ensure Dier and Sanchez no longer form Tottenham’s most important partnership?