Some Tottenham fans on social media cannot seem to agree on whether Eric Dier played well against Manchester United or whether he proved himself to be a liability.
Dier was handed a start at centre-back ahead of both Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen as Mourinho decided the Englishman with Davinson Sanchez at the back.
For the majority of the encounter, the England international barely put a foot wrong. He was commanding in the air, read the game well, and was a calming influence at the back for the home side.
However, the 26-year-old was turned by United substitute Paul Pogba late in the game and subsequently gave away a spot-kick as he was ruled to have fouled the French international. Bruno Fernandes then converted from the spot to bring the away side level.
Things could have been even worse for Spurs as Dier was adjudged to have fouled Fernandes inside the box late on, with Jonathan Moss pointing to the spot.
Thankfully, VAR intervened on this occasion and rightly overturned the referee’s call as replays showed that the United midfielder had simulated the contact.
While some Tottenham fans felt that, on the back of that showing, Dier is unreliable, others insisted that the former Sporting Lisbon man had a great game at the heart of the defence.
MORE SPURS STORIES
Spurs Web Opinion
Anyone who thinks Dier did not have a good game was watching a completely different match to the one I was. While I did not doubt that he was going to win a lot of one vs one duals, his reading of the game and his decision making was also extremely impressive. I thought even the first penalty award was rather harsh on Dier as he did not do much wrong. Pogba was looking for the contact and was going to go down the second he felt Dier leaning on him.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
