Journalist Jack Pitt-Brooke has claimed on The View From The Lane podcast that Eric Dier could line up at right centre-back if Cristian Romero misses Tottenham Hotspur’s next game.
Dier has been a regular under Antonio Conte at Tottenham having been hailed as one of the best defenders earlier in the year, and with Romero potentially missing next week’s game due to his World Cup heroics, Dier could well start on the right of the back three.
Pitt-Brooke expects that to be the tweak Conte makes against Brentford if Romero doesn’t return in time from Buenos Aires to face the Bees on Boxing Day, with Clement Lenglet perhaps poised to play in the middle of Conte’s defence and Ben Davies deployed on the left as he has been over the last year or so.
He said: “It might well be that if Romero is not ready to play the first few games of the restart, maybe it’ll be Lenglet in the middle [and] Dier on the right again, or maybe it’ll be Dier in the middle and Sanchez on the right again.
Will Romero play vs Brentford?
Yes!
No!
“They’ll have to find some sort of arrangement like that if there’s no Romero for Brentford.”
TIF Thoughts on Spurs without Romero…
Given that Romero was trusted to start a World Cup final for Argentina is just a testament to how good of a defender he is, so Spurs will certainly be at a disadvantage if he misses the Brentford game and more after that.
However, Dier has been a consistent performer this season for Spurs racking up a 6.76 WhoScored rating and has started all but one game in the Premier League and that was the 3-2 win against Bournemouth which saw them mount a comeback victory after Dier had been subbed onto the pitch.
It’s not just Dier’s defensive ability that is clearly admired and crucial to Spurs, but also his passing ability as he ranks inside the top four when it comes to progressive passes (FBRef), as his ability to get the ball moving forward and out of defence is crucial to Spurs being a successful side and Dier is great at doing so.