OPINION
Tottenham disappointingly lost 1-0 to Manchester City on Saturday but several players still impressed.
The likes of Heung-min Son, Christian Eriksen and Davinson Sanchez shone bright but there were a few players who struggled to submit a performance worthy of the Spurs’ shirt.
One of these players was midfielder Eric Dier.
The 25-year-old was completely outclassed by Man City’s players in the middle of the park as they seemed to find it easy to rob him of possession and run past him in midfield.
Yet while Dier clearly struggled on Saturday, he was unfairly hung out to dry by Mauricio Pochettino and the Spurs boss should take the blame for the 25-year-old being a weak link for Man City to expose.
The midfielder hasn’t featured for Spurs lately due to a hip injury keeping him on the sidelines, and you could see that one of the reason for his struggles was down to him being rusty having not played regular football as of late.
While Pochettino wanted to freshen up his team after they were in action in mid-week, it was unfair to throw Dier into the deep-end against Man City.
Pep Guardiola’s side are arguably the best team in the Premier League, hence why they’re competing for the title, and the fast-paced football they play was always going to see them able to run rings round Dier.
While some may argue that it was a good game for the 25-year-old to get minutes under his belt in, it must have dented his confidence at least a little bit and doesn’t exactly put him in good stead for the games that remain.
Pochettino should have waited on deploying Dier again, and let him have a morale-boosting return against a team that aren’t in as red-hot form in the league as Man City.