Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier was the hero for England on Tuesday.
Jamie Redknapp has suggested to Sky Sports that the introduction of Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier negatively affected England in their pulsating win over Colombia on Tuesday.
Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate brought Dier on for Dele Alli after 81 minutes when England were leading 1-0, but the towering Spurs midfielder appeared to struggle initially.
Yerry Mina headed home a 93rd-minute equaliser for Colombia to bring about extra time, and ultimately penalties after the additional half-hour failed to separate both sides.
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And it was Dier who stroked home the winning penalty, giving England their first-ever shootout victory at a World Cup in the process.
Next up for Southgate and co is a quarter-final clash with Sweden on Saturday, and former Tottenham star Redknapp does not believe that Dier should be in the first XI.
“Gareth Southgate has been really good in this World Cup, the only backwards step was maybe bringing on Eric Dier,” he told Sky Sports. “Once he came on, I felt we lost the initiative a little bit. We sat back. Jordan Henderson had been looking so good in that defensive midfield role but started to push on. We started to make a couple of defensive errors and getting a bit edgy.
“A substitution like that can say to the players that we’re going to hang onto what we’ve got, and I think that can create a little bit of negativity. In this day and age, it doesn’t seem to work that well.
“We are playing against a Sweden side that will sit back, so do you want to bring in an Eric Dier? I think you’d be better off putting an attacking midfield player.”
Dier is a very good player but perhaps Redknapp is right and Southgate should go for a Ruben Loftus-Cheek if the injured Alli misses out against the Swedes.
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