Jermaine Jenas critical of Eric Dier’s display during Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat to Bournemouth

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Tottenham Hotspur will now be turning their attention to Champions League matters and trying to beat Ajax.

Jermaine Jenas has slatted Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier for his ‘clumsy’ performance during his sides 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side were reduced to nine men before 48 minutes, with Heung-Min Son and Juan Foyth the men sent off.

Son was the first to go before the break, with Pochettino substituting Dier at half-time before Foyth was given his marching order for a high tackle minutes after coming onto the pitch.

Speaking to Match of the Day on BBC One (04/05/2019 at 10:15 pm), Jenas wasn’t impressed with Dier’s performance as he claimed that he had a ‘tough day’ against Eddie Howe’s side.

On Dier not playing regularly this season and how it showed against Bournemouth: “It definitely showed in his performance today,” Jenas told Match of the Day. “I think a lot of the decisions that he made, like going to ground, there’s no need to go to ground.

“It tells you that lack of game time he has had – this one [his tackle on King whilst on a yellow] he definitely doesn’t get contact on the ball. He could have easily got a second yellow.

“A lot of the things he did were very clumsy and it’s what you are like when you haven’t played for a while – it was a tough day for him.”

That result doesn’t help Tottenham’s quest to finish in the Champions League places because they could still find themselves finishing outside of the top four.

On Sunday, Arsenal and Manchester United will be in Premier League action. If both teams fail to win their respective encounters then Spurs’ top-four place will be all but secured.

But before then, they have a Champions League semi-final second leg to take care of in Holland. The North London club will take on Ajax next week hoping to overturn a one-goal deficit.

Given his performance against the Cherries, it will be hard to see Pochettino picking Dier for this crucial European encounter.