Stephen Kelly was critical of Eric Dier’s ‘loose’ defending during Tottenham Hotspur’s crucial 3-2 win over ten-man Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
The Europa League champions opened the scoring in north London when Dier, after a ball was played across to him in the penalty area, took a pretty ‘poor’ and heavy first touch, which was pounced on by Jesper Lindstrom, the ball was then fed back into the box to captain Sebastian Rode, who laid it on a plate for Daichi Kamada to score.
It wasn’t the finest piece of work from Dier and he only has himself to blame, and whilst Hugo Lloris tried to rectify the issue, he couldn’t do anything to stop the composure that was shown by Rode in the build-up to the goal.
Whilst that mistake could have proved to be costly, there is a reason Spurs have one of the most lethal forward lines in Europe and that was on show again last night.
The usual duo of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min were combining, with the latter bagging himself a brace, and in truth, Kane could have also, if it wasn’t for his missed penalty in stoppage-time.
Nonetheless, with Spurs now edging closer to the knockout stages of the Champions League, this is what former Spurs man Kelly made of Dier’s defending, as he told Sky Sports News.
“It’s a simple pass back to Dier, who just takes his eye off it,” said Kelly. “It was a poor touch, Lloris actually does well to scramble and get a touch on it, Rode comes in, he has the chance to shoot and then he squares it to Kamada, who just puts it away.
“Tottenham are architects of their own downfall. Really poor defending. Dier, who we were just talking about, he had started calmly on the ball. But this time, it was just a little bit too loose with it.”
CONTE WORKING HIS MAGIC
In weeks gone by, even though Spurs have been putting up the results, questions have been raised about their style of play under the defensive-minded Conte.
Well, not many can question the attacking quality and style that was on display last night, because it’s what got the team over the line.
If it wasn’t for Kevin Trapp in between the sticks, then things might have been a lot worse for the German side, who are now sitting bottom of Group D.
But, with two matchdays remaining, only three points separate Frankfurt and table-topple Spurs, so all of this can still turn on its head.
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