Jermaine Jenas blasts Tottenham midfielders despite Wolves win

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Jermaine Jenas has hammered Tottenham midfielders Eric Dier and Moussa Sissoko on BBC One’s coverage of Match of the Day (Sunday, 10.40pm), despite Spurs’ late win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

An injury-time winner from Jan Vertonghen saw Jose Mourinho win his second Premier League match away from home, after Spurs went so long without a league victory on the road. Wolves, though, dominated and probably should have won the match.

Spurs did take the lead thanks to a rocket from Lucas Moura, but Wolves dominated from start to finish in terms of chances. Diogo Jota, Raul Jimenez and Ruben Neves all had efforts, but it was Adama Traore that equalsied with a thunderbolt.

But Traore was to blame for Spurs’ winner. He let Vertonghen go, and completely unmarked, the defender headed home to win 2-1. Former Spurs man Jenas, though, hammered Spurs men Eric Dier and Moussa Sissoko for being overly negative.

“They’re too negative, always playing the ball backwards,” Jenas said. “When the ball goes into midfield, does Eric Dier want to turn? No, he passes it backwards. In the end, they go back to [Paulo] Gazzaniga.

TBR’s view – Should Dier be starting in midfield for Tottenham?

Mourinho has long been a fan of Dier but should that affinity with the Portuguese-speaking midfielder be overlooked? On Sunday’s showing, probably. The Spurs midfield was crying out for Harry Winks.

Sissoko has the ability to get the ball out of his feet and drive forward. With Spurs being away from home and in the lead, it was understandable that the Spurs midfield were conservative, but they played themselves into trouble – mostly Dier.

Mourinho needs to show Dier a video of occasions where he could have turned it out, or passed forward – instead of going backwards. But Winks should be banging on Mourinho’s door.