Dier on Bentancur: “We play well when he plays well”
Tue 20 September 2022, 11:30|
Tottenham Hotspur
Eric Dier lauded Rodrigo Bentancur’s personality and bravery on the ball after the midfielder capped another fine display with his first goal for the Club in our 6-2 win against Leicester City on Saturday.
The Uruguay international arguably produced the most important moment of a scintillating encounter just two minutes into the second half with the score level at 2-2 after the Foxes had levelled just before half-time at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Quickly spotting Wilfred Ndidi was isolated on receipt of the ball from his goalkeeper, ‘Rodri’ pounced, won possession and burst through on goal before slotting home off the post.
He was then involved again in the build-up to Heung-Min Son’s first, winning possession in our half before finding Sonny, who did the rest, spectacularly curling home from 25 yards for 4-2. Sonny went on to complete his hat-trick as we ran out 6-2 winners, extending our unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign to seven, and extending our unbeaten league sequence to 13 since April.
Speaking to SPURSPLAY, Eric, also on target, said: “Rodri is amazing, what a fantastic player. I think we play well when he plays well, that’s the biggest compliment I can give him.
“When he plays like he did in the second half, we’re such a good team. He offers so much defensively, and then with the ball he has so much quality.
"What a personality as well, to play in tight spaces... I’m really happy for him, Sonny then comes on and steals it because he scores three goals, but Rodri was fantastic.”
Eric is often looking for Rodri and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg as we build from the back, the midfielders often receiving the ball in tight areas if we’re looking to beat a press from the opposition.
“As a team we want to have more and more personality with the ball, more character… the manager demands that as well,” added the centre-back, now with England for UEFA Nations League matches against Italy (Friday) and Germany (next Monday) following his recall. “As long as we’re trying to do the things that he wants from us, to be brave and do that, to have the personality to do that, and Rodri does that.”
