Journalist Paul Brown has said that it would have come as a shock to Eric Dier to learn that he was left out of the starting eleven against Aston Villa, suggesting that the centre-back’s days at Tottenham now look numbered.
With Cristian Romero suspended and with Micky van de Ven out with a hamstring injury, Dier might have seen this as an ideal opportunity to prove his worth to Ange Postecoglou.
However, the Australian decided to leave the 29-year-old out, who was his only fit natural centre-back, on the bench on Sunday, opting to start Emerson Royal with Ben Davies in the heart of his defence.
When asked after the game why he made the decision, Postecoglou explained that he felt the Brazilian would be able to cope better with Villa’s direct forwards, adding that he was pleased with how his defenders performed (Football.London).
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Eric Dier would have been baffled at being dropped
Brown believes that even though Dier is driven to prove himself, Sunday’s selection decision might be the final nail in the coffin for his Spurs career.
The journalist told GiveMeSport: “I’m pretty sure Eric Dier will have been baffled by that decision and not terribly happy. It’s looking difficult for him to earn the trust of the manager in that position.
“It might be that Postecoglou wants to rotate there without his top two depending on who the opposition are but I don’t think it’s a good look for Dier not to be getting in for a game like that.
“I know for a fact he’s still an ambitious player he still has a lot of drive and he knows he can do a job in the Premier League, so I think if he continues to be on the fringes when Spurs don’t have their two first choice centre backs available, it’s only a matter of time before he leaves.”
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Postecogolou evidently did not like what he saw from Dier against Wolves and made the bold call to drop him against Villa.
It will be interesting to see if the 58-year-old brings the England international back into the starting eleven against Man City to cope with the physical threat of Erling Haaland.
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