Cascarino highlights the Spurs player Mourinho must now put his arm around

Tony Cascarino has suggested how Jose Mourinho should approach the situation surrounding Eric Dier.

The England midfielder was hauled off the pitch after just 19 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday night after going 2-0 down against Olympiacos.

Mourinho replaced the 25-year-old with Christian Eriksen to add more of an attacking threat to the Spurs attack and the tactic paid off with the North London outfit running out eventual 4-2 winners.

The Portuguese issued a public apology to Dier after the Champions League victory by insisting the decision was for the good of the team (Guardian).

Whilst Cascarino admits that he needs of the team must come first, he has recommended that Mourinho shows Dier extra attention and builds his confidence ahead of his next appearance in a Spurs shirt.

Spurs return to action tomorrow afternoon with the visit of Bournemouth in the Premier League.

Cascarino wrote in The Times: “Managers have to be selfish in their thinking. Football at the highest level is driven by results and they cannot afford to make too many mistakes. Big calls have to be made and sometimes an individual player must be the fall guy.

“What managers have to do after the game is ensure that player still feels part of their plans. Even though Mourinho went out of his way to absolve Dier from blame, he will need to put an arm around the midfielder at training and make sure he feels 10ft tall the next time he plays for Spurs.”

Opinion

While Dier was poor during the opening twenty minutes against the Greek side, Harry Winks can also consider himself fortunate not to have been the player taken off.

When the substitution was announced, Dier showed the highest levels of professionalism not to react negatively when he saw his number displayed on the fourth official’s board.