Speaking on a recent episode of The Extra Inch podcast, Nathan Clark discussed Eric Dier’s role at Tottenham Hotspur.
Since arriving at Spurs from Sporting CP in what was a £4.5 million deal back in 2014, Dier has gone on to feature 246 times for the club, chipping in with 11 goals and providing 11 assists along the way.
So far this season, the £19.8 million-rated 26-year-old has featured predominantly as a centre-back, as he did in the back end of last season.
However, in the first half of last season, the England international tended to be utilised as a defensive midfielder, and, in the 2018/19 season, Dier was almost always fielded in defensive midfield.
In fact, in total for Spurs, Dier has featured 135 times in defensive midfield in comparison to 83 times at centre-back.
The player was one topic of conversation on a recent episode of The Extra Inch podcast, in which, in response to a question as to why Dier could not be the player to fulfil Tottenham’s defensive midfield role, Clark explained why the 26-year-old is no longer being played in defensive midfield by Jose Mourinho.
He said: “I feel like we went through the opposite of this years and years ago with Dier, where he was being played at centre-back and he was like, ‘no, I want to play in the centre of midfield’.
“He just gets himself set one way in his mind in order to be good – it’s like the grass is greener thing. It’s like [he thinks], ‘at the moment, I’m being forced to play [in] central midfield, but if I could play my ideal role of centre-back, I’ll be great.’
“And that works out for a while, and he’s playing the other role for a while, and then he’s thinking, ‘Ah, I’m having a bad run of games, but I think if I was being played in central midfield, things could really work out for me.’
“So, he just gets set in his way about what he thinks is best for him. There was definitely a period of time where he was playing poorly at centre-back and the discourse amongst Spurs fans was, ‘he’s not really a centre-back, he needs to be playing in midfield,’ and then it turns to the opposite again.
“I would prefer him to finish developing as a centre-back than finish developing as a central midfielder. In terms of why can’t we use him in the centre of midfield, because now our needs are greater at the back than they are [for Dier] to compete with [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg. I wouldn’t be against us playing him there in a pinch if we’ve got the centre-backs behind him.”
Do you think Dier is better as a CB or a CDM?
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TIF Thoughts on Clark’s Spurs claim on Eric Dier…
From Clark’s comments, it is clear that he feels as if the primary reason for Dier’s now seemingly stable position in the centre of defence has come because of the fact that the club are more in need of centre-backs than they are of defensive midfielders, particularly after the summer signing of Hojbjerg.
As such, in Clark’s opinion, it would appear that Dier will be remaining in the Tottenham backline, rather than being played in a more advanced role, going forwards.