Is the Tottenham Hotspur boss about to snub Toby Alderweireld again?
Tottenham Hotspur fans haven’t reacted well to some Mauricio Pochettino comments on Tuesday.
The Spurs boss intimated that he could potentially start Eric Dier at centre-back instead of Toby Alderweireld in tonight’s visit of Southampton.
Pochettino was scolded by Tottenham fans for dropping Alderweireld in Sunday’s defeat at Arsenal, with Juan Foyth, the man who replaced him, at fault for the decisive goal.
Jan Vertonghen is ineligible to play tonight due to suspension, meaning that fans of the North London are desperate to see the 29-year-old partner Foyth in central defence.
But going by his latest comments to Football London, Pochettino may have other ideas. Asked if the Belgian will come back into his first XI, the Argentine said: “We’ll see. There are different options. Dier can play there. It’s about trying to be right and in the end win the game.
“That’s the most important but of course we come from a competitive week and we are going to face another competitive week.”
And here’s how some Lilywhites fans reacted to the prospect of seeing Dier drop into a centre-back role.
It’s no secret that Alderweireld and Tottenham aren’t on the best of terms, with the former Ajax and Southampton star refusing to extend his contract beyond 2019.
The North Londoners can trigger an automatic one-year extension, at which point a £25 million release clause will come into play.
If Pochettino does snub Alderweireld again then speculation about a January exit will intensify in a big way, though he would be mad not to play him.
A centre-midfielder by trade, Dier is a decent centre-back, but pairing him with Foyth, who has four Premier League games under his belt, is just asking for trouble and Spurs supporters should rightly be outraged if Pochettino goes with that combination.
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