Eric Dier’s England call-up finally offers the reward to what has been an outstanding season so far, after starting in a position that surprised most Spurs fans. But, Dier has taken to the midfield role like a duck to water and has been putting in some really impressive performances, leading to his first England senior team call-up for the upcoming international friendlies.
There’s no question that Dier deserves a call-up; even the statistics show how well the young man has performed as of late. In just ten games, he has scored two goals, created three chances and has kept an 86% pass completion rate showing real promise for the future. His main role, though, is to hold down the midfield and help out his defence, which he also does superbly, making an average of five defensive actions a game, which goes to show his versatility in midfield. One statistic that seems to go against Dier is his 46% of duels won, according to Squawka. This is mainly due to the fact that he has committed 24 fouls over the course of the season, picking up five yellow cards. But, this seemingly negative stat is actually positive; it reaffirms the role that Dier has to play as the holding midfielder. Sometimes a player has to be stopped in his tracks so that Spurs can regroup and reorganise, instead of said player running through onto goal and scoring.
Furthermore, Dier has only five take-ons, two of which coming off, but again this is because his role is not to dribble past six players before hitting a 40-yard screamer. Instead, it shows how Dier knows his strengths and weaknesses and how he prefers to spread the ball to influential players like Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela, who can cause the most damage to the opposing team.
Will Roy Hodgson deploy him in midfield as Mauricio Pochettino did? Surely he will; after all, the main reason for Dier’s success is down to his fabulous midfield displays. However, that doesn’t mean that Dier has forgotten how to play at centre-back. He could help to prop an ageing, creaky England defence. A pairing of Dier and Chris Smalling could create a young, physical, but crucially, ball-playing defence. England’s defenders need to be able to keep hold of the ball against the more elite international teams, for teams like Spain and Germany have defenders that retain possession very well, which is why they are so successful.
Unfortunately, England’s qualifying rounds have really inflated the fans and the team, so Hodgson must be sure to rouse his players from this lucid dream. England will actually have to face teams capable of playing football and these teams severely outclass England. Alas, there is hope. If the squad can bond together and give their all for every game, then England can play some top football on their day. However, it remains to be fully demonstrated for 90 minutes.
There is a good mix of experienced and young players among the team and, if Hodgson can find his dream team during the friendlies, maybe success will await him. Eric Dier is but one of the young untested English players that could finally rejuvenate years of mediocre, overrated English football. Why not take a risk on Dier? Why not have a young team that can learn from their mistakes? It seems to work for domestic teams, but whether it will work in the England set-up is yet to be discovered. What is known, though, is the fact that England have a lot of work to do before the Euro 2016 finals and incorporating young players such as Eric Dier is paramount.
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