‘Playing like Kulusevski’: Gary Neville left stunned by what Tottenham defender was doing in the second-half

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Gary Neville was left stunned by Tottenham Hotspur defender Eric Dier today and told Sky Sports that he was playing like Dejan Kulusevski in the second-half. 

Spurs fell to a 2-1 defeat in north London today after another lacklustre first-half display. Mohamed Salah bagged two first-half goals to put Antonio Conte’s men in a difficult situation heading into the break. 

Conte’s men had come back to win their last two games after being behind at half-time but couldn’t repeat the trick today.

Dier made a costly error in the first-half as he completely mistimed his headed back pass to Hugo Lloris, which led to Salah’s second goal.

But the 29-year-old played a completely different role in the second-half as he pushed further up the pitch. And Neville said he was almost playing the Kulusevski role for Spurs.

Neville stunned by Dier

Dier was almost playing as a right wing-back for Spurs in the second-half before Kulusevski himself was brought on.

Neville picked up on the tactical switch from Conte during Sky Sports’ coverage of the game today. 

“The way in which Dier is playing over here in this second-half, he’s almost playing like Kulusevski has come on, as a right-winger,” he said.

Dier recovered pretty well after his error which led to Salah’s goal and helped Tottenham build attacks down the right-hand side.

But Spurs paid the price for their poor start to the game today and even Harry Kane’s goal was only a consolation in the end.

Kulusevski made a big impact on the game after he was introduced and Conte will be delighted to have the winger back from injury.

The 22-year-old set-up Kane for Spurs’ only goal of the game and caused Liverpool’s defence some serious problems.

But Tottenham left it too little too late, despite creating several decent chances towards the end of the game.

Conte will be disappointed with his side starting slowly once again and today it prevented his side from getting a result.