‘You can never switch off’ - Dier on City victory
Mon 23 November 2020, 16:57|
Tottenham Hotspur
Eric Dier gave us an insight into the concentration levels required to keep Manchester City at bay after our fine 2-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.
Jose Mourinho’s plans worked to perfection as goals from Heung-Min Son and Gio Lo Celso saw us home. But it was the defensive performance from back to front that caught the eye as City’s attacking talents were shackled - Hugo Lloris wasn’t seriously tested until injury time. Victory took us top of the Premier League.
“It’s small margins, concentration more than anything,” said Eric, who, alongside Toby Alderweireld, marshalled the defence to a third clean sheet in our last four Premier League matches.
“It’s about being focussed and never switching off,” he continued. “It’s a cliché, but City are a team that if you give them one chance, they will punish you. They have the players, and when you sense you are in the wrong position, sometimes against other teams, the player on the ball doesn’t punish you in that moment but with them, if you are not right, they will punish you. Everyone performed really well and didn’t allow those moments.”
We defended really well, everyone stood up and made blocks, tackles, stayed on their feet, didn’t give anything sloppy away, everyone performed...
Crucially, we were clinical as Sonny and Gio converted one-on-one chances on five and 65 minutes from assists by Tanguy Ndombele and Harry Kane.
Eric added: “We knew exactly what we wanted to do and that we could catch them in those moments, and we did just that. We were ruthless in those moments.
“We defended really well, everyone stood up and made blocks, tackles, stayed on their feet, didn’t give anything sloppy away, everyone performed in those moments and that’s what you have to do against a side like City, and then being ruthless on the other side, two goals and a clean sheet.
“As I said at West Brom, defensively, we have to provide a platform for the team because I always believe we’re going to score goals, so if we’re right defensively, we’ll give the team that platform to go on and win.”
