West Ham coach Stuart Pearce was full of praise for Tottenham defender Eric Dier on talkSPORT (15/11/20 at 7:20 pm), where he stated that he is playing with an ‘air of confidence’.
Unlucky for Pearce, his comments couldn’t be more badly-timed because the Tottenham man didn’t put in the best of performances during England’s defeat in Belgium.
Dier started in a back three for the Three Lions and his wayward pass into midfield led to the opening goal being scored.
But before the match, one of West Ham’s backroom staff was liking what he is seeing from Dier compared to previous seasons.
“I think with him there has been an air of confidence in him,” said Pearce. “He has sort of come up resurgent again.
“There was a period with Eric Dier where you thought ‘Uhm, is his career going to flourish at Tottenham and England?’ All of a sudden, he’s dropped back into that backline again and he looks very comfortable and he’s enjoying his football once again.
“He might be a player that it’s almost a footballing gap year in many ways where his form dropped off a little bit, but he’s coming back again with a newfound confidence.”
At club level, Dier has progressed under Jose Mourinho and that trust between two parties has seen him become a regular at the back.
Towards the back end of Mauricio Pochettino’s reign, Dier was struggling for minutes on the pitch because his performances as a number six weren’t deemed worthy enough for a start.
But Mourinho, who has always been a fan of the versatile defender, has played him in his more favourable position.
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