Eric Dier reveals Ange Postecoglou does NO tactical work in training… as he opens up on his experience playing under the Tottenham boss

• Eric Dier left Tottenham after 10 years to join Bayern Munich on loan in January
• The defender, 30, fell out of favour after Ange Postecoglou arrived at the club 
• Could Erik ten Hag find himself back at Ajax? Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off podcast 

Eric Dier has opened up on his experience working with Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham and revealed the Australian never focuses on tactical work in training.

Dier, 30, moved to Bayern Munich on loan in January, bringing to an end his 10-year spell at Spurs.

The defender – who has also won 49 caps for England – was a key man under Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte while in north London, racking up 365 appearances in total for the club. 

However, Postecoglou never took a fancy to Dier, with the 30-year-old playing just four times in the Premier League this season as he slipped down the pecking order.

And, when questioned on his time at Tottenham under Postecoglou, Dier opened up on his training style, while he also revealed what it was like to work with Antonio Conte.

‘Interestingly, he really doesn’t do any tactical work (in training),’ he said, speaking to Gary Neville on The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet.  

‘What he does is, every single training drill from Monday to Friday is drawn up to represent the way that he wants to play. 

‘Conte, I could do it blind, but that was a lot of tactical work Monday to Friday, a lot of ten versus zero, walkthroughs.

‘You were so well drilled, it would be engrained in you.’

During Dier’s time at the club, Tottenham were twice runners-up in the EFL Cup, while they also lost the Champions League final to Liverpool in 2019. 

Meanwhile, under Pochettino in 2015-16 and 2016-17, Spurs were in the title race before falling away late in the season.

And the defender admitted that missing out on silverware is something that hurts, but also hit out at the teams he was a part of being labelled as ‘Spursy’ – which is a derogatory term effectively mocking Tottenham’s failure to win trophies.

‘I would call it lazy when English media used the term “Spursy” as the Tottenham mentality,’ he added. 

‘Because you could look at any club in the Premier League and they could lose a game, and they don’t have that tag from the past, so no one uses it. 

‘History plays a huge part in it. When Mauricio Pochettino was the manager of Tottenham, I don’t think for five or six years, anyone could possibly call us “Spursy”. 

‘I think we were aggressive, and we were constantly on the front foot. I think it would be difficult to call us “Spursy” under Antonio Conte as well, as I don’t think anyone enjoyed playing against that team either.’

Dier continued: ‘It’s going to be something that I live with for the rest of my life that we didn’t win anything at Tottenham, and there are times where we should have.

‘The year Leicester City won the title, we could have won it, the same with the year after when Chelsea won it, so you’re always fighting against that.’

 

Eric Dier was speaking on The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet.

To watch the full video, please visit The Overlap YouTube channel.