Tottenham Hotspur center-back Eric Dier has urged his teammate Dele Alli to continue to fight for the heart of the club’s coach Jose Mourinho by working harder.
The 24-year-old attacking midfielder has been out of favor since the commencement of the 2020-2021 season due to his work ethics which Mourinho believes is not enough to merit a regular place in the team’s first eleven.
It has become so bad for Dele Alli that he has only managed to play two Premier League matches out of 7 games and he started the two matches from the bench. So far, he has only played 66 minutes of league football this season.
The England international is suffering the same fate in other competitions as he has only managed to play 73 minutes of football in two Europa matches without any assist nor goal. Based on this, Mourinho believes that he has given the midfielder enough opportunity to prove himself but failed to do much with the chances.
Hence, Eric Dier stressed that it is up to Alli to do more to re-establish himself in the heart of Tottenham’s squad as it used to be before the arrival of Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2019.
“Dele has the capacity, we all know his quality, we all know what he brings, he’s shown that in the past,” Eric Dier said.
“It’s really up to him to put in the work, the effort, the commitment and I are sure he will do that.
“That’s who he is, he’s always had that drive. It’s up to him, it’s in his hands and it’s in all of our hands.
“Individually, we all have to perform, we’ve got a very big squad and we all have to perform at the highest level if we want to play.”
Without much of Dele Alli’s effort, Tottenham has been able to push themselves to the 3rd spot on the league table. The club has done so well that the club only lost a match, winning four and drawing two games in 7 league games. Jose Mourinho and his boys have garnered 14 points so far and they are two points away from the first-placed Liverpool football club.
Eric Dier reveals Jose Mourinho’s philosophy
Eric Dier has credited Jose Mourinho for the outstanding start to the season that Tottenham has been enjoying especially in the Premier League. He revealed that the Portuguese tactician has imparted on the players the belief that they can win against any team.
The 26-year-old English center-back however refused to be carried away by the club’s present successes as he stressed that the coach has weird the players to focus more on themselves and be ambitious enough to come out from every game with the victory.
“Our motivation is clear. For us, we’re going into every game to try and win”, he said. “We know that’s not possible but that’s our ambition. We’re going into every game, no matter the competition, believing we can win.
“That’s a great feeling and it’s a great feeling to have. That’s objective and the manager sets that tone from above.
“There’s not much more I can say because we’re focused on ourselves and we’re focused on Thursday now, the Europa League game.
“The work with the manager has been great because you know where you stand every game and he wants to win it and the focus is completely on that. That’s his focus, no matter what the competition is. That’s always his focus and our focus.
“Anything other than that is for others to discuss. I guess we’re just really focused at the moment.”
Tottenham will be in action on Thursday, November 5, against Ludogorets in a Europa League group J fixture. The Premier League club was stunned by Antwerp with a 1-0 defeat in the competition on October 29. The loss has forced Mourinho and his team to settle for the second spot in the group below Antwerp.
