Since Mourinho has come to Tottenham Hotspur, Eric Dier has consistently been touted as a player that would come out a ‘winner’ from the managerial change. A ‘winner’ in the sense that Dier was wanted by Mourinho in his Manchester United days, which means that Mourinho not only saw his quality at the time but presumably had ideas on how to get the best out of him. Lately, however, Spurs have been coming under a lot of attacking pressure, perhaps moreso than Pochettino’s ‘19/’20 tenure which would ultimately lead to his sacking. To a certain extent this is to be expected – the squad is being asked to make large tactical changes. The Argentinian innately believed in Bielsa tactics of high energy pressing and possession football, while the Special One has (as of late) made a name of himself for understanding that one does not need to control possession in order to control a match.

All of that to say that Mourinho’s style inherently invites more pressure than Pochettino’s. However, for the last couple of matches, it’s been clear that Dier’s title as a winner under Mourinho has been put into serious doubt. So much so that a defensive midfielder has been added to the ‘to buy’ list by fans (just below a right side fullback). That general sentiment, combined with Spurs facing more shots on goal (outshot 55 to 24 in the last three matches) led to this piece to find out exactly what is going wrong in the middle/defensive third for Tottenham, but to also understand how Dier has retained his starting place for all but one game under Mourinho.

Through my live watching of Spurs’ game against Wolverhampton, I immediately thought that although Tottenham’s backline held, it was a largely poor performance for the North London side. Tottenham has neither the need nor the ability to play like Pep’s Manchester City, but that does not mean they should forego possession at all. Tottenham’s biggest challenge against Wolves in the midfield was twofold – lack of defensive solidity and progression from deep, both stemming in the midfield. These problems became apparent within the first half hour of the match.

Dier is dragged wide to support the right flank and Sissoko, but this leaves a space wide open in the middle of the pitch to be attacked. As Dier is, on paper and in practice, the left sided defensive midfielder, the space marked above should be one that he occupies. This is specially true when one considers that Sanchez, Aurier, and Moura are all in defensive positions of the right flank. Dier getting dragged out of position became a worrying pattern, but it soon became clear that there was confusion between both him and Sissoko on positioning and pressing triggers.

It may seem like I’m picking on Dier but both Sissoko and Dier are at fault for the poor defensive play here. The question becomes whether Dier fits the system that Mourinho wants to play – to a certain extent he does, as will be discussed later, but time and again the defensive frailty from Spurs stemmed from Dier’s poor positioning.

Dier has consistently been touted for having strong defensive positional play – effectively shutting down attacking moves by blocking channels, intercepting passes, and getting stuck in when necessary. He’s shown very little of these attributes throughout his tenure with Mourinho; so how does he still find himself on the starting sheet?

There’s been a lot of talk around Mourinho’s main tactical change in his time at Spurs – having a lopsided 3-2-5 in the attacking phase with Aurier pushing up and effectively becoming a winger. This can leave the backline incredibly exposed when the opposition regains possession and has effective transitional play (incidentally, something that Wolves are known for.) Dier is extremely adept at slotting in as a centerback. This can be absolutely crucial as if an attack comes down Spurs’ right, it’s likely that Aurier will be caught upfield and Sanchez will be dragged out of position.

Although Wolves were looking to exploit Vertonghen’s lack of pace with Traore, Spurs have also been vulnerable on the right ride as seen below.

Other teams have picked up on this vulnerability from Spurs as well, exhibited by their attacking areas.

When Sanchez is dragged out, Spurs need to plug the defensive gap that he leaves behind. Without a doubt Dier is Tottenham’s best equipped midfielder to fulfill the duties of a makeshift centerback when asked to. Throughout the Wolves’ match he was alongside Alderweireld consistently and did a good job of providing extra cover.

The jury’s still out on whether the positives of Dier’s recent performances outweigh the negatives. He was more than eager to help the defensive line with his positioning, but to be frank, much too often his positioning was not good. In the risk of sounding redundant, some more examples bear mentioning.

It was telling that after the play depicted above finished, Dier walked away from his teammates as if he knew the opportunity was created through his mistake. Alderweireld, for his part, pointed up the channel through which Jimenez had run through. Dier has to receive plaudits for being able to slot in as a centerback so seamlessly mid-play, but he has to remember that his main duty is to protect his centerbacks.

Of course, that’s not his only duty. The game has evolved over the last few years to a point in which specialists on the pitch have become largely obsolete. For Spurs, long are the days of Sandro as a pure destroyer and not much else. For the rest of the world, City’s Ederson has become a playmaker, fullbacks are lauded for their attacking play, and the death of the #10 has been written about more times than one can think of.

Mourinho is very much a man of his time as he demands his defenders to progress the ball (most obviously through Aurier’s positioning, Alderweireld’s cross-field passing) and his attackers to defend as a unit. He’s also known implementing attacking transition play systems – theoretically something that Dier should fit into well as he has great passing range. All too often, however, he lets himself down with his positioning not enabling him to take advantage of one of his best attributes.

This isn’t meant to be a hit piece on Dier. Rather, an in-depth look at what he’s offering the team as of late. Unfortunately, he finds himself in a situation that necessitates an improvement on performance, namely decision making – when to step out of position, predicting a ball being moved to the opposite flank, when to step and press or hold off. Lately he’s been getting a lot of these decisions wrong.

Undeniably Mourinho has to ask himself whether his lack of quality in general play is starting to weigh both the team and Dier himself down.

Regardless of the answer, Mourinho has to play Ndombele as soon as he’s back from injury. He is Tottenham’s most technically gifted midfielder by far, and can provide not only effective defensive cover but great attacking nuance for Mourinho’s quick transitions for attack.