Eric Dier: "We have to focus on consistency - every game is so important"
Tue 08 March 2022, 17:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Consistency was the key word for Eric Dier as he looked back at our fine 5-0 win against Everton on Monday night and ahead to the rest of the season.
First to a commanding performance against Everton as goals from Harry Kane (2), Heung-Min Son, Sergio Reguilon and an own goal saw us home, Matt Doherty and Dejan Kulusevski added two assists each while defensively, we stayed in control - despite the threat of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, Everton didn’t register a shot on target.
“It was important for us to win and we won in a really nice way, five goals and a clean sheet,” reflected Eric, speaking on N17 Live pitchside. “Everton have a lot of really good players, good attacking players who are a real threat, but we knew if we could contain them, we have the players to hurt them, and we did that.
“We have 12 games left, we just have to put all our focus and energy in trying to finish the season in the best possible way, to be consistent, emotionally, every day to try to perform well.
“We have a lot of time in between games as well, so there are no excuses, we can recover well. We went through a difficult period, four away games in a row, didn’t get all the results we wanted, but now we need to really focus on that consistency because every game is so important.”
It was put to Eric that our back three/back five with wing-backs continues to grow as a unit, registering two clean sheets on the trot in the Premier League.
“It’s down to the work we’ve put in since the manager’s arrived, we’re trying to consistently understand better and better how he likes the back five to work defensively, and the way he likes us to move,” explained Eric.
“We’re trying to get consistently better and at the same time, gradually we’re adding more and more ideas into that, constantly trying to get better and better and doing different things to improve it. We’re working hard on that, and we can definitely improve a lot more as well.”
Meanwhile, Eric, who has started 23 of our 26 matches in the Premier League this term, and 31 of our 35 going back to last season, spoke about his own form. “I feel very good,” he said.
“I’m trying to keep a really good consistency to my performances, that’s what I’m focussing on trying to do, constantly trying to improve and get better and better, to understand better and better the role, understand better and better the system. The manager is the master of it. I feel like we’re still in beginners’ class with it and there is a lot more to come. I’m looking forward to that.”
