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Toby Alderweireld comes to Tottenham teammate Eric Dier’s defence
Tottenham Hotspur defender Toby Alderweireld has come to the defence of Eric Dier, following some stinging criticism from William Gallas.
The Frenchman stuck the boot in on the England international for the role he played in Liverpool’s winning goal in midweek.
Gallas accused Dier of not being interested in defending the set-piece from which Roberto Firmino scored, instead trying to buy a free-kick from the referee.
In Gallas’ eyes, Dier ‘doesn’t have the soul of a defender’ but Alderweireld has spoken up for the 26-year-old.
: “First of all, Eric is an unbelievable defender. Second of all, he’s very strong. So, I would say different.
“If he goes down, I know something is up you know? But again, I think Eric is showing week in week out now that he’s a very good player and so yeah, I don’t need to do the talking; I think every week he shows on the pitch how good he is.
“I really enjoy playing with him. I think there’s a really good connection between us.”
£4 million signing Dier () has been a trusted member of Jose Mourinho’s backline this season and has missed just one Premier League game so far, playing 90 minutes in all the others.
TBR’s View – Alderweireld knows
It is nice of Alderweireld to publicly back Dier following Gallas’ scathing assessment.
The former Spurs man really didn’t hold back with his verdict and was probably a little harsh on a player who has made great strides this season.
Clearly Mourinho has been very happy with his performances at centre-half, and evidently Alderweireld also knows his qualities.