Defender calls for ‘perspective’ when judging Tottenham’s start under Nuno

Eric Dier has called for people to have some perspective when judging the way Tottenham have started the season under new head coach Nuno Espirito Santo.

After starting the Premier League campaign with three 1-0 wins, Tottenham fell to three consecutive losses to Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Those results piled the pressure on Nuno, with some reports claiming that he was fighting to save his job. There were even suggestions that some senior players in the Spurs dressing room were unhappy with the Portuguese coach’s approach and man-management.

However, two back-to-back wins over Aston Villa and Newcastle have relieved the pressure of the Spurs boss, with the Lilywhites now back up to fifth in the table, just four points behind league leaders, Chelsea.

Dier insisted there were some mitigating factors behind the team’s losses against Chelsea and Palace which cannot be ignored when assessing Tottenham’s start to the campaign.

The centre-back told Football.London: “You have to have perspective, that’s most important. The Palace game, I got injured after 10 minutes, Japhet got sent off, we were missing players due to international duty, so, a lot of difficulties.

“Chelsea, again, perspective. We had a very good first half, we couldn’t keep that consistency for 90 minutes, but we played well in the first half and it was something to build on.

“The one game where there is nothing positive to take away and there are no excuses for is Arsenal.

“Villa was a huge result for us. We needed it as players, to show a response and that we’re a lot better than we showed against Arsenal.

“Look, one game isn’t enough to repay the fans for that result and what it means to everyone, but we’re in a good place and we need to continue to try to build.

“We’re all starting to find our feet – new manager, new set up, a lot of new faces in the dressing room.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Those who called for Nuno to be sacked after the North London derby loss should be ashamed of themselves. Even Pochettino took almost an entire season to fully implement his ideas. Whether or not Nuno proves to be the answer or not, he needs at least six to eight months to show what he can do.

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