Alan Shearer has criticised Tottenham Hotspur central defender Eric Dier on Match of the Day on BBC One (10:24pm, March 12, 2022) for his defending against Manchester United.
The Newcastle United legend was not impressed by Dier for the opening goal from Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford on Saturday evening.
Tottenham lost the Premier League game 3-2.
Ronaldo scored his first goal for the Red Devils against Tottenham after just 12 minutes.
After Fred teed up the ball for him, the Portugal international forward struck home from 25 yards out.
Ronaldo has a lot of time and space to pick his spot, and England international defender Dier, who can also operate as a midfielder, should have closed down earlier.
Alan Shearer on Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier
Shearer said: “Talk about Tottenham’s defending. Terrible. Dier has got to close him down. You cannot give anyone that amount of space.”
Need to do better
In our view, the Tottenham defensive united needed to do better against Manchester United.
Like Dier for Ronaldo’s first goal, the entire Tottenham defensive unit should have played much better in the game.
The headed goal that Ronaldo scored for his hat-trick should have been stopped as well by the players who were around him.
Tottenham switched off at crucial moments in the game, and that cost them.
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