Tottenham fans savage 23-year-old after his display against Gent
By Harry Sykes
Eric Dier made some high profile mistakes as Tottenham crashed out of the Europa League against Gent on Thursday night – and fans of the home side took to Twitter to savage his display.
The England international was named as one of three centre-backs in the starting XI alongside Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen as Spurs reverted to the 3-5-2 formation that served them so well last month.
But it did not pay dividends as a 2-2 draw at a sell-out Wembley meant Tottenham lost the last-32 clash 3-2 on aggregate.
Goals from Christian Eriksen and Victor Wanyama had given the home side hope of overturning the 1-0 deficit from the first leg but they paid the price for defensive errors.
Dier was beaten in the air for the opening Gent goal, which was flicked into his own net by Harry Kane, and then the 23-year-old made a mess of a clearance that he chested into the path of Jeremy Perbet, who poked in past Hugo Lloris.
Tottenham fans on social media trashed Dier and claimed he is not up to scratch at centre-back.
Here is a selection of their messages on Twitter:
Dier has been a mainstay of the team since joining from Sporting Lisbon in the summer of 2014.
He formed a fine central midfield partnership with Mousa Dembele last season but has been used predominantly in defence since the arrival of Victor Wanyama.
Nevertheless, the 23-year-old has started 21 of Spurs’ 25 Premier League matches as well as seven of their eight European clashes.
In other Tottenham transfer news, a forward has signed after Spurs agreed terms on an out-of-window deal.
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