Eric Dier reveals which Spurs manager he played his best football under – Not Pochettino
Eric Dier has spoken about his experience of working with the various managers he had at Tottenham and insisted that he played his best football...
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Eric Dier has spoken about his experience of working with the various managers he had at Tottenham and insisted that he played his best football under Antonio Conte.
Dier arrived at Tottenham in the summer of 2014, being one of the first signings of the Mauricio Pochettino era and the centre-back spent the next five and half years working closely with the Argentine.
Spurs were one of the most formidable sides in the Premier League at that time and the 30-year-old was a key part of that transformation, playing at right-back, centre-back and most often in midfield.
Dier admitted that he learned a lot during those formative years under Pochettino as the current Chelsea boss was happy to trust him and the other young players in the squad.
The Bayern Munich star said on The Overlap: “I cost £5 million, Dele [Alli] was £5 million, Harry [Kane] came through the academy, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker were both bought and brought in at a young age, and then you had a core of really good professionals, a bit older but still quite young.
“[Christian] Eriksen was still young, [Jan] Vertonghen, [Moussa] Dembele, [Toby] Alderweireld, and [Hugo] Lloris – I’m sure they didn’t expect us to do what we did in the space of the next couple years, but what we were able to do was a lot down to the manager.
“He [Mauricio] was fantastic at giving us the basics as young players, his attention to detail was incredible, he gave us great fundamentals on the pitch with body shape, the way you moved your legs – all these things, he was obsessed with those details.
“I was incredibly lucky, going to him, he was completely unfazed about playing a young player and before I signed for Tottenham, I spoke to Luke Shaw and James Ward-Prowse at Southampton and that was really why I thought it was worth taking the risk. I was going to play at Sporting Lisbon but because he was the manager it felt like if you deserved it, off you go [you’d play].”
Eric Dier played his best football for Antonio Conte
Dier also reserved special praise for Conte, speaking in glowing terms about the Italian as a coach and as a person.
The former Spurs star continued: “Jose [Mourinho] and [Antonio] Conte were incredible characters, and I learnt a lot with them. Antonio was probably the manager I played my best football under and aside from a manager, I really liked him as a man, he was a very honest and kind man.
“I remember his meetings were just incredible, the intensity he would bring to his meetings and the intensity he would bring to training every day, himself, I thought was just incredible.”
Dier also only had positive things to say about Ange Postecoglou although he admitted that he wished he had played more under the current Tottenham boss.
He added: “Ange [Postecoglou], I really enjoyed those six months, apart from not playing at all. I really enjoyed the style of play, the style of training, I think he has fantastic coaches, and his team talks were great.”
Spurs Web Opinion
It says a lot about Dier that he speaks in such glowing terms about all his former managers at Spurs. Even when he might have not always liked some of their decisions, the centre-back clearly did not take those calls personally and tried to learn as much as he could from all of them.
The post Eric Dier reveals which Spurs manager he played his best football under – Not Pochettino appeared first on The Spurs Web - Tottenham Hotspur Football News.