Eric Dier

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"I love Eric Dier...." and I pray he ne-ever leeeeeeaves!

Besides the fact that i just love a hard hitting yet cultured player, he is SO important to us... Pardon the analogy, but he's like the essential vertebrate the allows our spine the next level(*) flexibility we enjoy.

(* I dont watch 100 games a week, but I've honestly never seen a team that is so flexible formation-wise; week to week, in game and often without the need for a sub... Just pure fluid football that transcends the notion of regular roles and a 1st XI).

Just said us much in the Sissoko thread, but big up ED, MS & HW.... With Vic injured and Moussa in/out atm we are still in safe hands and further; boast a suitsbly versatile blend of skillsets.

Dier
Winks
Sissoko
Dembele
Wanyama

Get em all fit and Poch has one hell of a nice selection headache!

[ This is one of the importances of the domestic cups for me.... With all this quality depth, over the course of the season we need a lot of games to keep everyone sharp & happy (also see Sonny & our wingbacks) in order to in turn sustain the level of quality/depth needed to be competing at the very highest .... + we can't do a proper Triple without one! :tobyarm:]
 
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Dier was a man at the top of his game last night. Only got out of place once, when they scored, and that was handball so doesn't count. Can't under-estimate the value of a player as calm and solid as that in any team. Mourinho must have wanked himself into a coma.
 
Big Les Wade said:
Dier was a man at the top of his game last night. Only got out of place once, when they scored, and that was handball so doesn't count. Can't under-estimate the value of a player as calm and solid as that in any team. Mourinho must have wanked himself into a coma.
Click to expand...

Our whole defense is pure porn for that tosser!

(Pun intended? ...Fuck knows! :sandroscream:)
 
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When you do this on your debut.....

Eric-Dier.jpg


264358-eric-dier-goal740.jpg


dieract_3008510b.jpg
 
As per the the earier chat about the captaincy....

May not be on the cards for him but he 100% fits the bill.



....Leaders all over the pitch? :pochlol:
 
YidDriver said:
I think Dier is starting to become my favorite player in this team (Sorry Dele, HK and Moose). His leadership is really starting to show and he's so aggressive in his tackle while also being calm when the ball is bouncing around in the penalty box.
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I think we're starting to realise that our current team is made up of EVERYONE'S favourite player...

LLORIS
VERTONGHEN
ALDERWIERELD
DIER
DEMBELE
DELE
ERIKSEN
SON
KANE

...could all be someone's favourite.. .
That's NINE fucking players... in ONE team.
That's unheard of!

...and I'm taking into account that no one remembers to love a fullback... but if you're willing to forgive Rose, and add Trippier, Davies and Aurier to the mix... we have a team of favourites.. . ALL 11...
...and that's not even including WINKS!

Beat that Mega Rich Oil Money Clubs!
 
1882 said:
I think we're starting to realise that our current team is made up of EVERYONE'S favourite player...

LLORIS
VERTONGHEN
ALDERWIERELD
DIER
DEMBELE
DELE
ERIKSEN
SON
KANE

...could all be someone's favourite.. .
That's NINE fucking players... in ONE team.
That's unheard of!

...and I'm taking into account that no one remembers to love a fullback... but if you're willing to forgive Rose, and add Trippier, Davies and Aurier to the mix... we have a team of favourites.. . ALL 11...
...and that's not even included WINKS!

Beat that Mega Rich Oil Money Clubs!
Click to expand...

Tbh, i feel all gay and giggly at the sight of most of 'em....

Naughty step still for Rose, mind.
 
Big Les Wade said:
Dier was a man at the top of his game last night. Only got out of place once, when they scored, and that was handball so doesn't count. Can't under-estimate the value of a player as calm and solid as that in any team. Mourinho must have wanked himself into a coma.
Click to expand...

I think you mean the opposite Big Les.
You certainly can underestimate his value; what you can't easily do is over-estimate his value.
Sorry mate, I hear this all the time and it drives me mad....
:dierpochhug:
 
Colonel_K said:
Annoyingly behind The Times paywall...



Safe to say Dier is happy under Pochettino.
Click to expand...



“I want a photo with Eric,” shouts Mauricio Pochettino, breaking off from the walk to his press conference to bound outside, grab Eric Dier and pose, hugging him in the sunshine under a giant Spurs emblem. Later, a request to our photographer: can Mauricio have the picture? He loves Eric.

Dier did not need this interview to convince anybody at Tottenham about his bond with his boss, but he would like anxious fans to hear. Hear how, despite a difficult situation between them last winter, “my relationship with the manager has become even stronger for what we went through”.

The context is Pochettino’s newly-published book, Brave New World, a candid diary of last season whose serialisation caused a stir chiefly because of passages involving Dier. Pochettino described how, after Tottenham lost at Old Trafford last December, Jose Mourinho waited in the tunnel and hugged Dier. “They passed by me en route to the dressing rooms, laughing, speaking in Portuguese. Maybe it is a common Mourinho tactic, but he put Eric in a compromising position. You cannot do that after a defeat.”

Interest from United in signing Dier had “destabilised” him, influencing a loss of form, Pochettino also wrote.

Dier is keen to be candid too. “What needs to be clarified,” he says, “is that this is something that happened last Christmas. The book is a very honest account, and it’s nice for fans to have that insight about what goes on, that it’s not all lovey-dovey, but context is important. This was last Christmas. The book has come out now, so it has resurfaced, but for a long time my relationship with the manager has been great. It’s always been very good. Obviously, you can’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but if anything our relationship is stronger for what we went through together.”

The day after tunnelgate, Dier was in Pochettino’s office for four hours. They talked “for a very long time,” Dier says ruefully, “and all of that week, really, we were in constant dialogue. It was a difficult week for me.

“The manager’s point of view was [the friendliness with Mourinho] was disrespectful to him. [The dialogue] was more him getting that message across than me getting my message across.” But at Old Trafford he had been in an awkward situation.

“I grew up in Portugal. Portuguese people are very proud and it’s a small country. It doesn’t have the economic power of a country such as England, so people like Mourinho, Ronaldo, they’re extremely proud of it. Growing up there I was within all that, you know? I didn’t want to be disrespectful to anyone. I completely understand where the manager was coming from but I believe I was stuck in the middle of something I couldn’t really affect.”

All is addressed in Dier’s straight, articulate, often wryly humorous way. He is reclining on a sofa at Tottenham’s training ground, pausing to tease a passing Christian Eriksen, clearly in a workplace he adores. He really would not want supporters to read the Brave New World extracts out of context, and imagine he had wanted to leave. His explanation for last season’s difficult start is frank.

Think of Dier’s 2015-16. He was 21. He asserted himself as one of Tottenham’s mainstays, in central midfield. He became an England player and played 61 matches, culminating in Euro 2016. “A crazy amount of games. I’d never played anywhere near that amount and the Euros, though ending badly, was an incredible experience. After that you have a very limited holiday and when I returned for pre-season my mindset wasn’t right. I was mentally tired. I wasn’t ready to put my whole body into it again.

“It probably took six months — January, February — for my football to get better and a lot was my fault, my attitude, and that didn’t have anything to do with Man United.

“I just didn’t have the commitment, the workrate I should have had, and communication with the manager about the whole situation wasn’t good. But never did Man United . . . never did it turn my head. I was never thinking, ‘I need to go.’

“There was so much to it and everything accumulated and was like a big snowball and that’s where it ended up exploding. If we’d communicated better we’d have avoided that. I learnt so much from the whole experience and I think the manager did as well.”

Talking allowed Pochettino and Dier to get everything out in the open. One aspect to emerge was just how highly the manager rates his player. You signed a five-year contract, you can be the best centre-back in the Premier League, you are absolutely not leaving, was Pochettino’s message.

It was what Dier wanted to hear. “I’ve always been so happy at Tottenham,” he says. “There have been moments like January built out of frustration but never a period where I wasn’t happy. I say it to friends and family, that I think it’s very difficult to be in a group like we have here where — and every single word of this is honest — I don’t have a single problem with one player in the dressing room. And that’s true of the whole team. We really connect as individuals. It’s something special because it happens so rarely in football and that’s one of the reasons why I’ve never thought of leaving.”

Best centre-back? Maybe until then Dier was looking upon himself as a holding midfielder but Pochettino has opened his mind about his playing position. Or rather reopened, because during his development at Sporting Lisbon, Dier was encouraged to learn various roles: centre-back, central midfield and right-back.

“Positionally? There’s so much we could talk about,” he says, “but the first thing I want to get across is that versatility, for me, is never a negative. Especially if you’re a young footballer where the most important thing is to play as many games as possible and learn.

“Secondly, I hate the word ‘utility’. That word just kills me. In the book, the manager touches on it. When we had those conversations, I said that playing as defensive midfielder had given me so much more than playing as centre-back. I’d made my England debut there, had a really good season for Tottenham there.

“But he said to me a very nice compliment, that I could go on to be the best centre-back in the country. And I believe that I can be.

“I believe I can be the best centre-back in the country and I believe that I can be the best defensive midfielder in the country. That’s why I hate the word ‘utility.’ Because what I always strive to do is, when I play as a centre-back, I play as a centre-back. And when I play as a defensive midfielder, I play as a defensive midfielder.

“I don’t play as a centre-back trying to play midfield, or as a midfielder playing centre-back. And whichever position it is, I want to be the best.

“One of the big things that came out of the conversation with the manager is that whatever position I’m playing, ‘your commitment and your aggression need to be there. Eric Dier needs to be Eric Dier.’ I’ve tried to take that into the season.

“I take inspiration out of players such as Philipp Lahm, an unbelievable footballing brain, fantastic at full-back or in midfield. Or Javier Mascherano.

“In foreign countries there are many players like that. And football is now an 11-man game, becoming so fluid, where players interchange and play in any role. But in England,” he laughs, “versatile players get tarnished with the ‘utility’ brush.”

Dier feels totally different this season. Older, wiser, and having had a longer holiday, his appetite, his zest, his focus and quality have been evident from day one — and Wednesday’s defeat of Real Madrid, in which he excelled in midfield, then moved back to excel in defence after Toby Alderweireld’s injury, showcased his, ahem, utility.

Beating Real was “another step” in Spurs’ journey, Dier says. Pochettino has been talking to them about ascending Everest. They are high on the slopes and the summit has to involve winning, but they must remember to stick together and enjoy the climb.

We finish by chatting about his hobby, architecture. He and Pochettino are alike. Brave New World reveals the manager’s interest in poetry and the spiritual. Dier, too, is an individual of depth.

Dier attended David Yarrow’s fine art photography exhibition recently and needs to sate a creative side. “I get it from my mum,” he says. “She works for an architect company and I enjoy art and design and that’s my passion outside football. It’s important to keep your mind active in different ways.”

In the building of Tottenham here is one foundation block precious to Pochettino. Dier is going nowhere, except maybe in a picture frame on the manager’s desk.

Tottenham will have a collection for the Royal British Legion at today’s match against Crystal Palace, followed by an auction of signed match-worn Poppy shirts. They have given 600 tickets to the Tickets for Troops initiative.

rstand where the manager was coming from but I believe I was stuck in the middle of something I couldn’t really affect.”

All is addressed in Dier’s straight, articulate, often wryly humorous way. He is reclining on a sofa at Tottenham’s training ground, pausing to tease a passing Christian Eriksen, clearly in a workplace he adores. He really would not want supporters to read the Brave New World extracts out of context, and imagine he had wanted to leave. His explanation for last season’s difficult start is frank.

Think of Dier’s 2015-16. He was 21. He asserted himself as one of Tottenham’s mainstays, in central midfield. He became an England player and played 61 matches, culminating in Euro 2016. “A crazy amount of games. I’d never played anywhere near that amount and the Euros, though ending badly, was an incredible experience. After that you have a very limited holiday and when I returned for pre-season my mindset wasn’t right. I was mentally tired. I wasn’t ready to put my whole body into it again.

“It probably took six months — January, February — for my football to get better and a lot was my fault, my attitude, and that didn’t have anything to do with Man United.

“I just didn’t have the commitment, the workrate I should have had, and communication with the manager about the whole situation wasn’t good. But never did Man United . . . never did it turn my head. I was never thinking, ‘I need to go.’

“There was so much to it and everything accumulated and was like a big snowball and that’s where it ended up exploding. If we’d communicated better we’d have avoided that. I learnt so much from the whole experience and I think the manager did as well.”

Talking allowed Pochettino and Dier to get everything out in the open. One aspect to emerge was just how highly the manager rates his player. You signed a five-year contract, you can be the best centre-back in the Premier League, you are absolutely not leaving, was Pochettino’s message.

It was what Dier wanted to hear. “I’ve always been so happy at Tottenham,” he says. “There have been moments like January built out of frustration but never a period where I wasn’t happy. I say it to friends and family, that I think it’s very difficult to be in a group like we have here where — and every single word of this is honest — I don’t have a single problem with one player in the dressing room. And that’s true of the whole team. We really connect as individuals. It’s something special because it happens so rarely in football and that’s one of the reasons why I’ve never thought of leaving.”

Best centre-back? Maybe until then Dier was looking upon himself as a holding midfielder but Pochettino has opened his mind about his playing position. Or rather reopened, because during his development at Sporting Lisbon, Dier was encouraged to learn various roles: centre-back, central midfield and right-back.

“Positionally? There’s so much we could talk about,” he says, “but the first thing I want to get across is that versatility, for me, is never a negative. Especially if you’re a young footballer where the most important thing is to play as many games as possible and learn.

“Secondly, I hate the word ‘utility’. That word just kills me. In the book, the manager touches on it. When we had those conversations, I said that playing as defensive midfielder had given me so much more than playing as centre-back. I’d made my England debut there, had a really good season for Tottenham there.

“But he said to me a very nice compliment, that I could go on to be the best centre-back in the country. And I believe that I can be.

“I believe I can be the best centre-back in the country and I believe that I can be the best defensive midfielder in the country. That’s why I hate the word ‘utility.’ Because what I always strive to do is, when I play as a centre-back, I play as a centre-back. And when I play as a defensive midfielder, I play as a defensive midfielder.

“I don’t play as a centre-back trying to play midfield, or as a midfielder playing centre-back. And whichever position it is, I want to be the best.

“One of the big things that came out of the conversation with the manager is that whatever position I’m playing, ‘your commitment and your aggression need to be there. Eric Dier needs to be Eric Dier.’ I’ve tried to take that into the season.

“I take inspiration out of players such as Philipp Lahm, an unbelievable footballing brain, fantastic at full-back or in midfield. Or Javier Mascherano.

“In foreign countries there are many players like that. And football is now an 11-man game, becoming so fluid, where players interchange and play in any role. But in England,” he laughs, “versatile players get tarnished with the ‘utility’ brush.”

Dier feels totally different this season. Older, wiser, and having had a longer holiday, his appetite, his zest, his focus and quality have been evident from day one — and Wednesday’s defeat of Real Madrid, in which he excelled in midfield, then moved back to excel in defence after Toby Alderweireld’s injury, showcased his, ahem, utility.

Beating Real was “another step” in Spurs’ journey, Dier says. Pochettino has been talking to them about ascending Everest. They are high on the slopes and the summit has to involve winning, but they must remember to stick together and enjoy the climb.

We finish by chatting about his hobby, architecture. He and Pochettino are alike. Brave New World reveals the manager’s interest in poetry and the spiritual. Dier, too, is an individual of depth.

Dier attended David Yarrow’s fine art photography exhibition recently and needs to sate a creative side. “I get it from my mum,” he says. “She works for an architect company and I enjoy art and design and that’s my passion outside football. It’s important to keep your mind active in different ways.”

In the building of Tottenham here is one foundation block precious to Pochettino. Dier is going nowhere, except maybe in a picture frame on the manager’s desk.

Tottenham will have a collection for the Royal British Legion at today’s match against Crystal Palace, followed by an auction of signed match-worn Poppy shirts. They have given 600 tickets to the Tickets for Troops initiative.
 
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