Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has responded to claims surrounding training from Eric Dier.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has discussed his training methods following questions over his routines. It comes after former defender Eric Dier appeared to suggest he preferred the work he does at Bayern Munich.
The England international left Spurs on loan in January, with a permanent switch as a free agent expected for the summer. A switch to Bavaria came as something of a surprise, though Dier has been heavily involved since his move.
The 30-year-old recently featured on the Overlap to discuss his switch and made a claim surrounding training under Postecoglou. “Interestingly, he really doesn’t do any tactical work [in training],” Dier told Gary Neville.
“What he does is, every single training drill from Monday to Friday is drawn up to represent the way that he wants to play. [Antonio] Conte, I could do it blind, but that was a lot of tactical work Monday to Friday, a lot of 10 versus zero, walkthroughs. You were so well drilled, it would be engrained in you.”
Ange Postecoglou hits back at Eric Dier claim
Tottenham boss Postecoglou hit back over the claim, stating that tactics are at the centre of everything in training. Speaking to the media, he said: “It’s probably something you’d have to ask Eric, I don’t know what you mean by tactical work.
“Everything we do is geared on how we are going to play our football, so for me by extension is tactical work. Whether that’s on us, or whether it’s on the opposition. In fact I would probably say we don’t do anything apart from tactical work.
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“That’s all we do every day. If we’re working on our fitness, we’re still trying to play our football, but I haven’t seen the interview so I’m not sure what he’s referencing. If you’re talking about do we do training where we’re standing around and working on how we’re going to stop an opposition, how we’re going to break down, no we don’t do that.
“But I don’t think that’s the only kind of tactical work that exists. I think anyone who trains with us will tell you that all we do is train the way we play. Maybe that’s not tactical work, I don’t know!”
Eric Dier outcome
For Tottenham, Dier is a part of past projects and will be remembered fondly for his part in them. However, the more immediate future goes beyond that and will be focused on how the team can progress under Postecoglou.
Whatever the stories may be surrounding Spurs, the next few weeks will look towards returning to the Champions League. Beyond that, the goal will be building a team that can compete at the very top of the league.
