Tottenham have got an almighty task on their hands tonight as they prepare to face Barcelona with a severely weakened squad.
Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli, among others, have all been ruled out of the game at Wembley, but many Tottenham fans still don’t want to see Eric Dier in the starting XI tonight.
They’d prefer to see Harry Winks start.
Winks has only been given one Premier League start this season as he makes his return from serious injury but fans think he could be the difference in the crucial Champions League clash.
And they’re really worried about the prospect of Dier, 24, playing – with one fan saying he “needs to be dropped”.
Here are the best reactions from Tottenham fans to tonight’s line-up:
DIER NEEDS TO BE DROPPED! @HarryWinks had a sensational game against Real Madrid. Dier won't bring anything to the table ?????
— Rossco (@Rosscobarbers) October 2, 2018
If we do go with that. The game plan has to be counter attacking football. I’m not confident that Dier and big Vic can pass the ball forward quickly enough as we’ll need.
— Liam McInerney (@LiamM008) October 2, 2018
Winks for Dier. Please no Dier. All it takes is one missed pass for Barca to punish us
— BITW (@SmoothRoughGuy) October 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/Mrchrisharrison/status/1047099462710120448
I never said don’t put him in the squad. I said I would start Winks. Dier has been poor this season. Miss placed passes all over the place. Losing possession all the time. Wanyama can protect the defence and allow Winks to link the play
— Brendon Barnard ?? (@brendonb86) October 2, 2018
ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION
Please drop Dier in the Middle field and even centre back lose the ball too much
and can't give correct ball if you want Tottenham to go ahead. I think Winks is good there— Pefelly Mongo (@PefellyMongo) October 2, 2018
Put Son in for Dier. Let's go balls out! ?#COYS
— steve gibbs (@stevegibbs) October 3, 2018
OPINION
It doesn’t have to be either/or and we think there’s a very good chance that both Dier and Winks will start tonight. Pochettino played a back-three against Real Madrid in the Champions League last season to great effect and if he does the same tonight then it will probably mean Dier slotting back into the centre of defence alongside Davinson Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld. As an aside it’s ironic just how pivotal Alderweireld has become again to the Tottenham side after Pochettino said he wasn’t getting picked on merit last season. Back to the matter at hand though, Dier offers his manager great versatility and that’s why he’s such a valuable player to Spurs. Winks has looked way more explosive when he’s played this season and Spurs fans want to see a forward-thinking player in midfield. They may well get their wish and have to put up with Dier in defence tonight.