Surprisingly, he covered the most of ground today of anyone in the squad....11.91 km
That’s because he was chasing shadows all gameSurprisingly, he covered the most of ground today of anyone in the squad....11.91 km
Surprisingly, he covered the most of ground today of anyone in the squad....11.91 km
That’s because he was chasing shadows all game
Doesn’t actually surprise me. He didn’t play his traditional role today, he was (generally) yards further advanced than usual.
I assume it was tactical or Jose wanted to see him play a different role. Personally I don’t think it suits him, he’s not mobile or nippy enough but maybe he wanted to see if he had a bit of Matic about him??
Haven’t seen the game yet but I’ve seen enough of Dier lately to know he’s way below par as a CDM for a team with top four aspirations. Especially for a team that plays counterattacking football. The most successful counterattacking sides are built on defensively solid foundations, foundations that draw the opposition in without actually giving much away, then the space left behind is then ruthlessly exploited by the counterattacking side. That drains the opposition, knowing that in order to chase the game, they’re going to be vulnerable again.Today he touched the ball probably 5 times only all game.
He didnt shield the defence like what DMs should do.
He didnt make a single tackle
He didnt make incisive runs forward
He didnt make himself available for a pass from defence.
He allowed the opponents to shoot from the positions where he was supposed to be protecting.
If he was brpught on by Jose to protect the defence, then we might as well play Winks, because both won't protect the defence, but at least Winks contributes more to midfield.
Dier looks way off the pace, but he's missed so much football over the last 2 years that's to be expected.
We either need to persist with his pedestrian play, hope it boils down to lacking match fitness and he returns to being the player he was 2/3 years ago.
The other option is we have to look at getting someone in now who can be the beast in the midfield we need, not too many players out here we are going to be able to prose away in January though.
Personally I would give him another 4/5 starts, if he doesn't pick up the pace, isn't commanding and continues to misplace 10 yard passes then we have to look to fill the DM role as it's our biggest weakness on the squad right now.
Think back to Dembele, Dier and Wanyama in their prime and we where so much more solid. Need a player of that ilk now...
I asked on another thread already, but who do people think is out there as a viable alternative? I’m not as up on foreign footy as used to be so no one comes to mind, and in the prem I can’t think of anyone decent who we have chance of getting.
For me if we play 3 at the back - and we pretty much did today - then it seems sensible either Dier is one of them, or we bring in Winks. 3 CBs and a hybrid looks over kill unless we are playing Burnley.Doesn’t actually surprise me. He didn’t play his traditional role today, he was (generally) yards further advanced than usual.
I assume it was tactical or Jose wanted to see him play a different role. Personally I don’t think it suits him, he’s not mobile or nippy enough but maybe he wanted to see if he had a bit of Matic about him??
Moving like an oil tanker out there. Luckily we seemed to bypass the midfield and go long because he didn't do anything for us either offensively or defensively.