‘Quite frustrating to be honest’ – Tottenham star hits out at the use of ‘Spursy’ tag

Eric Dier has claimed that the current Tottenham side does not warrant the ‘Spursy’ tag as they have proven over several years that they are very difficult to play against.

Previous Spurs sides have been accused of having a soft underbelly and despite the considerable improvement the side has shown over the last five years, they have still been accused by some of not having the bottle to go all the way.

The ‘Spursy’ tag was once again being thrown around after Tottenham surrendered a three-goal lead against West Ham last month but Dier insisted that the label is unfair on the current side.

When asked about the tag, the defender told Football.London: “That’s something that’s quite frustrating to be honest because I think, as I said before, there were seasons where we finished second in the league and people called it Spursy.

“We finished second. We just didn’t manage to win it and people were calling that Spursy. I don’t believe this team has had that tag for a long time.

“I don’t think teams enjoy playing us. I think we’re physical, I think we’re aggressive, I think we’re determined, we’ve got a good attitude and the manager has definitely brought an extra edge to that.

“He’s more demanding in certain areas and ruthless with you individually and as a team so he’s definitely increased that a bit as well.”

The centre-back also claimed that the side has always had a nasty streak and insisted that it was only a matter of beating the smaller teams on a consistent basis.

He said: “For me, I think we’ve always had that. From the time I’ve been at Tottenham, I feel like we’ve always performed in these big games. Maybe we’ve not always got the results, but we’ve always performed.

“For me, it’s more about and applies more to the games like West Brom away but this time we’ve had to suffer a bit there and managed to win 1-0.

“It’s in those kinds of games when it’s really important to be a big nasty, to be a bit ruthless in those difficult games away from home against difficult sides. I think those are the games we’ve suffered more in.

“I said after the West Brom that, as a defence, if we can keep clean sheets then I believe that in every game we will score goals with the attacking threats that we have and how clinical they are and how ruthless they’ve been.

“It’s a matter of us performing defensively because if we do that then we’ll win games.”

Tottenham’s win over Manchester City took them to the top of the table but the England international refused to get carried away by the result and insisted that the players will continue taking it one game at a time.

Dier added: “It probably sounds boring but, for us, nothing really changes. We are going game by game, we’re trying to win every game that we can and that’s the most important thing for us.

“We’re top for now, let’s see what happens and we’re going to try and stay there. We’d be stupid not to and, as I said, we’re going to be trying to win every game.

“Obviously we’ve got a Europa League game next so all the focus will be on that.

“Then back on the Premier League, but really, the mentality is game by game and every game we go into, we’re trying to win it, no matter the game, tournament, the opposition, it doesn’t matter, We’re trying to win every game.”

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