Eric Dier

[Joe Clash]

I'll be honest, I'm now not 100% convinced you know what a statistic is.....





Next up, Professor Gibbins details his findings on how football is finally moving on from magic and conforming to the laws of physics

I think he means biomechanics, but it's hard to tell.

 

[pleb]

I don't agree that they were a batter pairing than Dembele/Wanyama. BUT it kinda illustrates my point about the mix.

Dier had Pace behind him in Toby and at the side from Walker when he shone in midfield.

Pace was mixed through the spine.

Not slow slow slow slow in a row.

Like I said IMO Diers form is all to do with physics.

Look at our winning streak at WHL. Then look at our games at Wembley. WHL has a much narrower pitch. Less room for the opposition to take advantage of a slow spine.

At Wembley there Is more space that needs to be covered when it comes to defending etc. IMO on the larger pitch at Wembley or the disasterous CL away games Poch needed pace in that spine. Wanyama pushed back into the 3 may even be enough to break it up.

Just swap Dier and Wanyama could be the answer. Then you have Dier of 2015. Pace behind him and to the side.

Your back Gibbsy from your exile?

 

[Joe Clash]

I thought gibbs' mantra was soft wing play? Now it's a slow spine. I honestly can't keep up.

 

[koppel]

Oh no

 

[mouse]

You think Eriksen is top 10 fastest players in the prem? Because of a stat?

Here you go mate:

statistic
stəˈtɪstɪk/
noun

1.
a fact or piece of data obtained from a study of a large quantity of numerical data

 

[Airfixx]

The Eric Dier Lifecycle...

2014/15
Lauded as one of our best CBs

August 2015/16
Moved to cover DM. Everyone says he's shit and we're cheaping out

September 2015/16
Lauded as one of our best DMs, and everyone is glad we didn't get Schneiderlin

2016/17
Back at CB, playing gash

+ add a similar story with his stint at RB... From goal hero to shit to better than walker and back to shit in no time according to some.

Personally think he's been a bit dubious as CB in a 4 on occasions, but otherwise hasn't got a lot to answer for.

 

[CJJ]

+ add a similar story with his stint at RB... From goal hero to shit to better than walker and back to shit in no time according to some.

Personally think he's been a bit dubious as CB in a 4 on occasions, but otherwise hasn't got a lot to answer for.

He does remind me of Dawson at CB - not exclusive in a good way

 

[Airfixx]

Agree with the second paragraph. But not the first.

Wanyamas passing is a lot better than i expected it to be, but both him and Dembele have been guilty of conceding possession so far this season

The conundrum is that we expect these players to make more adventurous forward thinking passes (which by their nature have a greater chance of being intercepted) but then berate them for losing possession in a high risk area.

One of the beautiful things about our current squad / system is that we expect nearly every player / position to be adept at both defensive and attacking play. Be proficent at passing the ball creatively but also effective at pressing and tackling and being prepared to put their neck on the line. Its a high level of expectation, but I think we should remember that some players will always be better at being "complete players" than others

...Hense the claim that Dembele/Dier combo provides a better balance is entirely credible.

 

[mouse]

...Hense the claim that Dembele/Dier combo provides a better balance is entirely credible.

If you believe that Dier is a more complete player than Wanyama (jury is out for me) and that we need players that can regularly complete forward passes in every position (rather than just having a DM that is good as a DM).

I suppose the question is thus:

Is Wayamas defensive game better than Diers by enough to justify the improvement gained by Diers offensive game over Wanyamas... if that makes sense!

Or we could just pick the team on a game by game basis and be happy that we have as well a rounded squad as we have to have these sort of selection headaches.

 

[SoCalSpurs]

Look at our winning streak at WHL. Then look at our games at Wembley. WHL has a much narrower pitch. Less room for the opposition to take advantage of a slow spine.

"much narrower pitch" = 2 yards? That's 3 feet on each side of the pitch. Hardly "much narrower" nor should it be an excuse for your narrative.

 

[Airfixx]

If you believe that Dier is a more complete player than Wanyama (jury is out for me) and that we need players that can regularly complete forward passes in every position (rather than just having a DM that is good as a DM).

I suppose the question is thus:

Is Wayamas defensive game better than Diers by enough to justify the improvement gained by Diers offensive game over Wanyamas... if that makes sense!

Or we could just pick the team on a game by game basis and be happy that we have as well a rounded squad as we have to have these sort of selection headaches.

With the 4 CMs we now have in place, largely I'm an advocate of the last approach.

As for combo's... My point was never about who is the most complete player, more which combo compliments each other the best. Personally I think we get more out of Dembele with Dier besides him as thanks to Dier's positional discipline Moussa is able to relax, get forward sooner, roam a bit more and (most importantly) dictate tempo and embrace the B2B 'carrier' role more. Whereas Wanyama / Dembele or Dier at times have both felt like we're just playing with 2 DMs cos the other sits back more just in case Vic goes walk-about.

Wanyama's positional discipline has got better as the season has rolled on and 3 at the back puts a spin on all this as well for obvious reasons, but on the basis of 4231 I'd typically go:

Dembele / Dier - Against teams where we need more calm, ball retention and defensive protection.
Wanyama / Winks - Against the bus parkers of this world... More dynamic & energetic.... Winks passing game being the most attacking of our options.

Wonder whether we'll get a taste of Dembele / Winks in due course too.

 

[Airfixx]

"much narrower pitch" = 2 yards? That's 3 feet on each side of the pitch. Hardly "much narrower" nor should it be an excuse for your narrative.

I think the excuse theoretically comes into play when you consider how much distance (and as such, also pace) it equates to over the course of 90 mins.

Personally not buying into that on the basis of athleticism, but what was evident at Wembley is that we were underestimating passing distances... Something that can hopefully get remedied by simply getting used to the size of wherever it is you regularly play your regular fixtures.

 

[SoCalSpurs]

I think the excuse theoretically comes into play when you consider how much distance (and as such, also pace) it equates to over the course of 90 mins.

Personally not buying into that on the basis of athleticism, but what was evident at Wembley is that we were underestimating passing distances... Something that can hopefully get remedied by simply getting used to the size of wherever it is you regularly play your regular fixtures.

2 yards total difference in width, the size of an average adult male. End of ridiculous discussion.

 

[bonaspur23]

It is 5 yards shorter as well. Makes a difference for a high pressing team that plays a high line.

 

[Airfixx]

2 yards total difference in width, the size of an average adult male. End of ridiculous discussion.

I find that an entirely baffling reply to the comments you quoted. You seem under the impression that I'm disagreeing with you and the crux of my post has been entirely ignored.

 

[SoCalSpurs]

I find that an entirely baffling reply to the comments you quoted. You seem under the impression that I'm disagreeing with you and the crux of my post has been entirely ignored.

My whole point was to shoot down the ridiculous excuse from Gibbs of the width being so much narrower at the lane which somehow has an effect of our spine.

You brought up length which I don't necessarily disagree with you on, and I certainly don't disagree with you on the team having to get used to it. It wasn't part of Gibbs' ridiculous point.

 

[pleb]

Nice honest article by Dier

 

[koppel]

Nice honest article by Dier

Loved this.

 

[Colonel_K]

Another of our players, as a kid snapped with David Beckham...

 

[GG1882]

Got a lot of stick on twitter tonight, I thought he was excellent. Then again Alli is getting a lot of stick on twitter and he was levels above anyone on the pitch. And Danny Rose gets hate on twitter every week and he's fantastic.

I think this means we're becoming a great team.

Anyway back to the initial point, thought dier did well tonight. Some of his passing was great and he won them ball back continuously. His touch in tight areas isn't the best but he isn't that kind of player.