I just cannot get my head around how much pace Dier has lost While him bulking up to play as a CB was obviously going to cost him half a yard of pace, he seems to be two yards of place slower compared to when he was a DM in Poch's system and has been for a couple of years now
What you say is true but my observations of Dier show that it is more about awareness and anticipation than pace. A 38 year old Carlos Puyol blocks that Calvert Lewin disallowed goal. Dier has always been solid when the game is played directly in front of him. But as soon as things start happening behind him or in his periphery, he goes to pot. The disallowed goal came from a situation when we had 4 against 2. The shot should never have happened as a defender with good awareness will realise that Davies has to come across to try to deal with Gomes which means Dier, as soon as he sees Davies moving, has to shift across too to deal with Calvert Lewin's run. He doesn't because he is busy man marking Pedro Porro and Pape Sarr at his blind shoulder. We saw this countless times last season. The guy just isn't a good player. He was made to look vastly better than he is alongside the likes of Jan, Toby and Dembele, but once they'd left he was exposed for the very basic footballer he actually is.
More reason IMHO to have given Veliz a start (only delaying the inevitable once the internationals toll arrives next month) .
Fair assessment there! Like you, i am loving watching us atm...the first 30 minutes yesterday was some of the best football i jave seen live since the days of Hoddle, Ardilles, crooks, Archibald, Hughton, Perryman, Hazard, Villa, Roberts, Miller, etc...was worth every penny of the £55 i paid for the ticket. Have a great Christmas too mate
I mean… at this point you have to wonder whether he really is fully COYS, and he’s doing just enough to keep a job, but also ensuring Chelsea remain ****.
I'll apologise wholeheartedly to him for all the abuse I've given if he gets sacked after more dire results and then posts on Instagram "that was for you, Tottenham".
Perhaps he considers that one to be due to the ref and not him (while being happy for people to think the latter) .
I'm still holding on to a faint glimmer of hope that he's working undercover to simultaneously relegate and bankrupt them. 200ft statue outside the stadium if he achieves this. We need them to win the Carabao cup so that he's given another £1billion in the summer, then all being well they'll be in the Championship by May 2025.
