Cascarino baffled by Tottenham managers falling in love with Eric Dier

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Tony Cascarino has told The Times that he cannot understand why several Tottenham Hotspur bosses have shown so much faith in Eric Dier, claiming that he would be a decent player for a mid-table Premier League side.

Dier is one of the Tottenham players with a major point to prove ahead of Spurs’ Champions League tie with AC Milan. Antonio Conte’s men were dismantled at Leicester City at the weekend, losing 4-1 and being lucky to not lose by a greater margin.

Dier is someone who has come in for a lot of criticism during his time in North London. And yet, the England international has been relied upon by a number of managers.

Cascarino criticises Dier after Tottenham defeat

Conte even suggested shortly after his arrival that Dier had the potential to be one of the best in the world in that position in the middle of the back three. For a little while, it appeared that that was not necessarily a foolish statement. And Dier forced his way back into the England team.

However, his form has been in decline for some time, culminating in Saturday’s thrashing by the Foxes. And Cascarino has now suggested that Tottenham cannot make the progress they wish to should they keep faith with Dier.

“Can someone explain to me how so many successive Tottenham managers have fallen in love with Eric Dier? He is an honest, decent player who could be OK for a mid-ranking Premier League team, but he cannot be a main centre half for a team competing for the Champions League,” he told The Times.

“He has a bad habit of standing off forwards as they advance on goal. He did it against Leicester again on Saturday. The Spurs back line needs rebuilding but not around Dier.”

The problem for Tottenham is that the backline already needs quite an overhaul. Cristian Romero and Pedro Porro should be around for some time. Meanwhile, Spurs will hope Destiny Udogie, Ryan Sessegnon and Djed Spence have bright futures.

But Clement Lenglet is only on loan. And Ben Davies is another who has his limitations as a centre-back. And of course, the goalkeeper situation will need addressing sooner rather than later.

Adding a potential replacement for Dier onto the wishlist will make life difficult for Tottenham. That does not mean that they should ignore his struggles.

But it does feel that they are, once again, going to have to prioritise the biggest problems rather than spend a little less signing slightly better players in a number of areas.