Antonio Conte told to drop Eric Dier from Tottenham Hotspur starting XI after Brentford draw
Manager Antonio Conte has been told to drop Eric Dier from Tottenham Hotspur’s starting XI by former Hibernian striker Tam McManus.
The England international has been a regular feature in Conte’s starting XI. He has had a good run of games this year, which led to his return to the England set up and a place in the 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
But Dier has made his fair share of mistakes. One of them came at a crucial point in the Premier League fixture against Brentford on Boxing Day. Vitaly Janelt put the Bees up early in the first half.
A few minutes after the second half started, Dier shinned the ball out for a needless corner kick while being under no visible pressure. The resulting corner kick resulted in Ivan Toney’s goal which made it 2-0 on the day.
Following the 2-2 draw, courtesy of a heroic comeback from Spurs in the middle of the second half, McManus exclusively told Football Insider:
“I mean, that was embarrassing. He’s under absolutely no pressure and he gets it all wrong. That’s just one example of bad defending that you will have seen if you watched the game like me. “I think Tottenham need to go out and do better.”
“Players like Dier aren’t going to get them into the Champions League. He shouldn’t be starting. These individual errors are going to be the death of them.”
Stefan de Vrij is just one of the names that Spurs have been linked with recently as they look to bolster their defence. Croatia’s 2022 FIFA World Cup hero Josko Gvardiol is another.
When someone like Dier makes mistakes like this, it would certainly increase Conte’s headaches. He is supposed to be one of our two world-class defenders alongside Cristian Romero, with the club needing a third centre-back to add to the backline.
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But Spurs can arguably do with two world class additions at the back. Hopefully, Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici properly back Conte in January and we sign at least one centre-back that directly slots into our starting XI from day 1.
