Jose Mourinho apologises to Eric Dier after substituting him early against Olympiacos

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Jose Mourinho took drastic action with Tottenham 2-0 down against Olympiacos in the Champions League last night, removing Eric Dier before half time to put on Christian Eriksen.

The 4-2 comeback victory justified his methods – and it’s not the first time in his career he has made an unusually early substitution – but Mourinho has apologised to the £60,000-a-week (Spotrac) midfielder.

As per the Guardian, Mourinho said: “The most difficult moment of the game for me was… when I made the change in the first half. Hurt the player but hurt myself. It’s important the player understands and I was lucky that my choice was a very intelligent boy who has a good understanding of what the team is.

“It was not about his performance. We were losing 2-0 in a very difficult moment and one positional midfield player was more than enough. I apologise to Eric, in spite of the fact he knows I did it for the team and not with the intention to hurt him.”

TBR’s View – Mourinho has a way of testing players early on

Dier is a diligent team player and Mourinho will respect that but the Portuguese has a way of establishing that discipline with players with early tests.

This was a classic Mourinho move; something not many managers would have done and represents a clear power play to his new squad about who the boss is.