Eric Dier, midfielder

It’s not very easy to up sticks and leave the country you’ve lived in since the age of seven, to ply your trade as a 20 year old defender in the Premier League. It’s even trickier when your Englishness forgoes you the excuses and patience that might be afforded of a foreigner adapting to the Premier League. Indeed, so unaccustomed to English life was Eric Dier that when the concept of daylight savings time was explained to him he thought it was a practical joke.

Bilingual and a resident of Portugal since the turn of the century, Dier’s childhood memories are nearly all of growing up on the continent. The Sporting Lisbon academy product described himself as “just like any other foreigner” upon signing for Spurs in 2014, so how well he has handled the transition to English life and the Premier League has really gone rather unappreciated.

In the deluge of player information available to football supporters today, being a 20 year old English footballer that isn’t firmly in football’s collective conscious begs questions of your ability.

An English player who has shown any promise by 20 has usually been thrust straight into the limelight. His name is dropped into a list of talents to ‘watch out for’, his strengths and weaknesses displayed on a few short loan spells are scrutinised, and a predicted England team of some bizarre future is built around him.

But Eric Dier arrived at Spurs essentially unknown. A quiet, small-fee deal was completed. No fanfare, no hype, just a couple of tenuous links to Woolwich earlier in the summer that had as much foundation in truth as the average Woolwich transfer rumour.

[linequote]Thrown into an away derby in his first Premier League game, the 20 year old was completely unperturbed[/linequote]

He even had to tell us on Twitter how to pronounce his name. It was certainly a surprise to see him start the first game of the season at West Ham. With Jan Vertonghen and Vlad Chiriches injured, and Federico Fazio still a Sevilla player, Dier was preferred to the soon-to-depart Michael Dawson, and partnered captain fantastic Younes Kaboul in central defence.

Immediately Eric demonstrated qualities now synonymous with him. Thrown into an away derby in his first Premier League game, the 20 year old was completely unperturbed. His defensive ability was shown in a composed clean sheet, his versatility was shown when he capably filled in at fullback following Kyle Naughton’s dismissal, and a touch of flair borne of a footballing education on the continent was shown when he took the ball round Adrian deep into injury time and slotted home the game’s only goal.

Clichéd though it may sound, the Portuguese academy education gave Dier ability with the ball at his feet that is rare to find in an English centre half, Ledley and Rio aside. Put it this way – if a Chelsea centre half had scored that goal ten years ago, it would’ve been Ricardo Carvalho and not John Terry.

A 90th minute derby winner on debut obviously set Dier in good stead with the White Hart Lane faithful, but his career didn’t quite take off from there. Kyle Naughton’s suspension and general ineptitude saw Dier’s versatility tested with a run at right back. This worked without flaw against an anaemic QPR attack but was found wanting in a 3-0 home ransacking by Liverpool. Then followed a 2-2 draw with Sunderland, a home loss to West Brom, and Naughton returned against Woolwich.

Dier was deployed at right back sporadically over the coming weeks, looking fine without really impressing. His ability on the ball was only remarkable when qualified by ‘for a centre half’, which meant his attacking offerings were minimal, and defensively he wasn’t without imperfection in learning a new position on the fly.

The moment the experiment was truly shelved happened about 10 feet in front of my eyes, just east of the Shelf. Newcastle United at 1-0 down kicked off to start the second half, punted a pass into the path of Sammy Ameobi and the ball was nestled in the back of the net eight seconds after the whistle had blown, and before Dier had risen from his heels.

Days later Dier withdrew from the England Under 21s squad. In international squads centre halves who can cover at fullback are valuable because they save a squad place on a backup fullback, so his inclusion would likely have meant little playing time and occasionally filling in on the right side of defence. Citing a desire to hone his skills as a central defender, Dier declined his call-up, and in doing so made the decision that he wasn’t a right back.

[fullquote]It’s an enormous testament to Dier’s mental fortitude that he has put in the hours off the pitch to develop from a rudimentary stop gap to a legitimately good midfielder[/fullquote]

This was a big call from a young man, and one that he got absolutely right. Putting in ok performances out of position when you’re capable of putting in very good performances in position harms your reputation. Dier was happy to fill in where needed but his development and future were best served by playing regularly in his position. Swiss army knives are useful, but no-one’s cutting their sandwiches with one.

At the time this response from Dier was seen by many as a rejection of versatility. It felt like he had decided he was a centre half and that was that, with perhaps a touch of Prima Donna about it. Today, though, on the other side of a string of exemplary defensive midfield performances without complaint, we see that it was something quite different. It wasn’t a shirking of team duty, but a mature and level headed appraisal of his abilities as a right back.

Ten days after the summer transfer window closed, with it clear the season’s plan was to continue with Dier as the team’s only holding midfielder, he signed a new 5 year contract. That’s not the behaviour of a man dead set on playing centre half. It stands as an indicator that Dier is prepared to adapt, learn and challenge himself in new roles, but confident enough in himself to know when it’s not working.
It’s that sensibility and beyond-his-years maturity that has translated so excellently into Eric Dier’s efforts on the pitch this season. His greatest strength as a holding midfielder has been his reading of the game; standing-off attackers and not allowing them space to charge in to. He exudes a calmness and composure that would be valued in a player 5 years his senior.

I have watched time and time again opposition players break at Tottenham’s back line only to come across an Eric Dier shaped mountain, halt, turn and kill a counter attack.

As a central defender learning a new position, his game reading and positioning ought to be his biggest weakness – and let’s be honest he wasn’t the same player against Man United as he was against Man City. Instead it’s an enormous testament to Dier’s mental fortitude that he has put in the hours off the pitch to develop from a rudimentary stop gap to a legitimately good midfielder. The proof is in the pudding, and this pudding is a very tasty ‘best defensive record in the league’ thus far. Some of that must be attributed to new recruit Toby Alderweireld, but even an incredibly talented group of defenders will be exposed if not covered properly.

The last time Spurs kept clean sheets for fun was when Sandro was playing every week under AVB, and it’s no coincidence that a midfield pairing of Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason – each very talented but not fundamentally defensive – shipped goals, while one with a defensive anchor in does much more to snuff out chances before the defenders have to deal with them.

In spite of the wisdom of Tim Sherwood or Les Ferdinand, the defensive midfielder is incredibly important part of the modern game, particularly for teams whose fullbacks like to attack, as Danny Rose, Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier like to. Look at how Nemanja Matic was able to improve Chelsea, at the huge change of fortune at Woolwich brought about by the introduction of Francis Coquelin, or at how Morgan Schneiderlin enables a great defensive record from a back 4 including Antonio Valencia and Daley Blind.

Of course we should still tread carefully. Eric’s form may well not last, and we must also consider that his appraisals have been significantly gentler due not only to our fondness of him, but also because we’re expecting limitations from a player playing out of position and still learning the ropes.

[linequote]To this point of Eric Dier’s career though, the trend suggests that noticing a flaw is quickly followed by extensive, off the field corrections[/linequote]

Had he been a deadline day acquisition we would expect a better range of passing from a midfielder. He’s very good at sliding tackles when he gets them right, but a youthful exuberance sees him attempt them too often, and get them wrong. Four yellow cards at this stage in the season is something that needs to be addressed. To this point of Eric Dier’s career though, the trend suggests that noticing a flaw is quickly followed by extensive, off the field corrections.

I have previously written for this site that clearing deadwood without replacing weakens the squad, and when Spurs sailed through the transfer deadline without a defensive midfielder added I was seriously disappointed. I was wrong. I didn’t foresee Eric Dier progressing to this point at all, never mind so soon.

Whoever at the club, most likely Paul Mitchell, decided that Dier had the raw ingredients to become the holding midfielder this squad needed deserves huge credit, as does Pochettino for ably playing the Art Howe to Mitchell’s Billy Beane. But the biggest slice of praise has been earned by the temperament, attitude and aptitude of Eric Dier himself.