Eric Dier
Eric Dier believes that most people do not realise just how hard Dele Alli works off the ball after the 25-year-old returned to the Tottenham team this week. Alli made only his third Premier League start of the season on Sunday in Tottenham’s 4-0 victory against Sheffield United. He got 78 minutes under his belt in a busy performance and interim head coach Ryan Mason said the midfielder had earned the start by standing out in training in the preceding week.
Eric Dier said: “I thought he played really well. From the inside I can tell you he’s been working really hard and trained really well, and against Sheffield United he put that on the pitch. Everyone knows his qualities, but I think he also has a lot of qualities which go unnoticed. The amount of second balls he wins, the amount he runs for the team and presses. He’s always attached to the game, it’s like he’s on a string to the ball. He is always attached to the game in every moment and that’s a great quality to have.”
Alli was also showing off a new look with a longer hairstyle and
Eric Dier admitted: “It’s been in the pipeline for a while. He came out with it last week and I think he looks good.”
Gareth Bale took the headlines with an emphatic hat-trick on Sunday. Son Heung-min added a wonderful curling effort for Tottenham’s fourth goal and Dier admitted it was great to see Bale, Son, Alli and Harry Kane all in the same team together.
Eric Dier said: “Obviously it’s a very nice feeling. It’s a luxury to play behind them and with all of their qualities I think they complement each other really well,” he said. They each have slightly different qualities and it’s a pleasure to play with them. There is a lot of firepower there and a lot to back it up – their history, their goals and assists, and what they have done in the game. I think we have a lot of quality up front, even off the bench. We have a lot of quality in attack that no opposition would like to come up against. That includes Lucas Moura, Steven Bergwijn, Erik Lamela and the others as well. We have a lot of options and they are all options nobody would like to play against.”
