Mourinho believes that this central defender ‘played very well’ against Wolves

Tottenham Hotspur hosted Wolverhampton Wanderers in North London this evening as they looked to close the gap on Chelsea in fourth.

However, the Lilywhites threw away a lead twice against their fellow Premier League side, losing the match 3-2 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Jose Mourinho decided to reshuffle his defenders at home to Wolves, dropping both Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen to the bench for the match.

He instead went for youth and pace in his back line, with Japhet Tanganga and Davinson Sanchez either side of a ball-playing centre-back in the form of Eric Dier.

Serge Aurier and Ben Davies were then able to push forward as wing-backs against the Wolves defence, with the former scoring Tottenham’s second.

Mourinho has now revealed why he chose to go with this back three, singling out Eric Dier for his performance in the centre of the defence, despite conceding three goals today.

He said (Football London): “Eric [Dier] played very well. I think Eric played very well. So, I think if Eric’s performance was not as good, I would understand the question but I think it was very good. The thinking was simple, the thinking was Davinson and Tanganga are the two fastest central defenders that we have.

“Eric is the one who by nature is a midfield player so playing in the middle between those centre backs is the one who is normally more comfortable to step up, he’s more comfortable with reading the game and passing.

“So, it was a mixture of giving security but at the same time keeping fast people at the back. I think they played well, especially Eric was very, very good and sometimes you concede goals and you blame goalkeepers and defenders. Other times you concede goals and it is a global situation and I think it was when it comes from a transition. Sometimes when it comes from behind midfield I think it’s not about them.”

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