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Tottenham star Eric Dier: We have to play with the right intensity.

Updated: Jan 1, 2022

Eric Dier made his 300th appearance for Spurs at the St Mary’s Stadium.


Eric Dier issued a rallying cry to his Tottenham Hotspur teammates, asking them to put in the right intensity going forward.


The Lilywhites played out a 1-1 draw with 10-man Southampton on Tuesday as their quest to finish in the Premier League’s top four took a minimal blow.


On what could have been a day of celebration for Antonio Conte’s side, it turned out to be a case of frustration.

Spurs fell behind to James Ward-Prowse’s strike in the 25th but they responded and drew level via Harry Kane 16 minutes later.


The England striker Kane scored a penalty after Heung-Min Son was brought down in the 18-yard box by Mohammed Salisu and the Saints defender was shown a red card after picking up his second yellow card.


Despite the hosts playing with 10-men, Tottenham failed to take advantage, but they saw a goal from Son and an own-goal by goalkeeper Fraser Forster ruled out by the officials.

And, in the end, Spurs and the stubborn 10-man Saints had to share the spoils.


“We’re all disappointed we didn’t get the win, especially after they went down to 10 men,” the 27-year-old, who made his 300th appearance for the club on the day, as Spurs’ official website quoted. “We couldn’t break them down, and that’s disappointing.


“It wasn’t the best of performances from us. If we got the goal at the beginning of the second half (Harry Kane’s ruled out for offside) things could have been different, we could have gone on to get more, but the longer the game went on we lost our heads a bit in the way which we wanted to attack, and we weren’t as structured as we should have been.


Harry Kane levelled the scoreline from the penalty spot
Harry Kane levelled the scoreline from the penalty spot

“We couldn’t get the goal, it was difficult, and, sometimes it can be like that when you play against 10 men - if you don’t have the right intensity with the ball and the right movement off the ball, that can happen. It’s disappointing for us. We’ll watch the game back and try to make sure that if we find ourselves in that situation again, we’ll handle it better.”


On Conte, who extended his unbeaten run to seven games since his arrival as boss, Eric said: “We’re trying to understand better and better this system every day with the manager, trying to improve and how he wants to play


“Everyone has been really receptive of his ideas and trying to put them into practice more and more. I think everyone deserves credit for the work they’ve put in and the improvements we’ve made but, at the same time, we’ve got to be realistic and know that we have a lot to improve on and get better at, and we need to work towards that.”


An overview of the St Mary’s Stadium
An overview of the St Mary’s Stadium

Speaking of his 300th appearance for the Club, the Englishman explained: “It’s a very proud milestone for me - hopefully I’ll get plenty more. It’s really nice. As I said, hopefully I’ll add a lot more and keep doing better and better for this Club. It’s really nice to have reached that number and it’s something I’m very proud of and for everyone who has helped me get to this point.”



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