Eric Dier a club legend? Fuck me people will throw that term about like nothing these days, yes he was a good servant for the club but please do not refer to him as a club legend, especially considering how poor he was to the latter stages of his spurs career.
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Player Archie Gray
- Thread starter The Swellhead Spur
- Start date
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I said probably and he was integral to our best PL team so far. Played a shit ton of games and played for his country in that time. It’s not as crazy as you make out.
Maybe he will be a CB, nobody knows yet. Stones played in midfield too when he was younger.
He’ll walk into the England team for years if he plays that position going forward though that’s for sure.
He’ll walk into the England team for years if he plays that position going forward though that’s for sure.
I never liked Dier as a 6 honestly. Always felt to me like he was shoehorned in there.
He picked up some horrendous habits like trying to do too much on the ball and became a worse CB as a result.
I don’t agree with you that Dier has had such an amazing career.
He played in major tournaments for his country and was part of our best ever PL seasons, now he's at Bayern Fucking Munich. You don't need to agree with me because 99.99% of 18 year olds making their way in the game would take his career in a heartbeat.
Don't get me wrong either, i was fully done with Dier in a Spurs shirt by the time he left but you can't disrespect what he achieved in the game.
My original point is he became a worse player in his best position because he was played out of position for too long a time. By mentioning how frustrated you became with his play towards the end of his career at Spurs you seem to be agreeing with me on that.
Thing is, the way we played at the time (fluidly switching in-game between 3 & 4 at the back); Eric was crucial to that.....
I do agree that not being able to focus on one position at a crucial time in his career hampered him though (how the poor fucker ended up playing RB too is pretty crazy)...... Even at 26/27 he himself still seemed conflicted as to what he wanted to be too.
Always liked him though.
I liked him too- first as an RB when he broke into our team, and then as a CB before he got caught up trying to be a midfield maestro. I believe he assisted in one of his first games starting for us as a RB, if not his first.
Scored the winner away at WH....... Perfect debut.
IIRC he was due to start at CB, but someone got injured in the warm up and he ended up playing RB instead.
That was it! I still remember the elation we felt on his debut. Good memory Airfixx.
Not sure "maestro" was ever quite the remit though..........
He's a no BS player and a no BS kind of guy.
He definitely was trying for it. I recall a story published where he said he was going to art museums to try and improve his footballing creativity. It was all so obvious around that time- he started trying way too hard to do fancy things on the ball and rather quickly lost his way as a dependable CB.
I hear you about Dier not knowing his best position. Tbh I only think CB became his position because he got so huge and lost some mobility.
On the flip side of this argument are players like Rodri who was even playing CB for Pep when he first arrived. Lahm as well started at FB then became a 6. Deschamps is another one who moved around plenty, King started as #6, Rijkaard was a CB and #6...
Tbh I think it's case by case but learning the positions around you at 18 is never going to hurt you imo.
I hate Bissouma at the 6 these days. We have no other good 6. We need a 6. We paid 40m for a 6. Said 6 absolutely bossed Chelsea last season- something NONE of our other current CMs have ever done. So what does Ange do? Plays him at RB and CB. He’s merely a serviceable, defensive fullback.
So it's not about his development as a player then? It's more that you think the team would be better with him at 6?
I'd come back at you and say that Gray is the second best option we have fit at CB right now. If we had a fit CB, I suspect we would have seen him play 6 against Southampton. He has had some minutes at the #6 this season but he's still 18 and my guess is that 99.9% of coaches would be relying on their senior pros like Bissouma and Bentancur before throwing Gray straight into the firing line. It's his first season in the Prem, if you throw him in instead of bedding him in gradually, that's negligent management IMO.
I get that we saw him boss a very dysfunctional Chelsea team in league cup game and that absolutely shows the potential he has as a #6 but it doesn't mean you throw him into 90mins week in week out of playing CM in the Prem. I have zero doubts he ends up a #6 for us and also for England IMO but these appearances learning FB and CB are only going to help him understand the positioning needed for that role even better. If he's 22 and we still don't know where he's going to play then it's time to look at it IMO. Right just get minutes and learn the game at the PL level.
There’s a bit too much to respond to here. I simply want Gray to get some minutes at the 6. I didn’t say I wanted him to exclusively play there, or that we run him into the ground, or not be available to help wherever needed, just that I want to see him primarily at what is apparently his natural position. I also have argued that it’s not good for players to be playing out of position for too long or they can develop bad habits/instincts.
Im glad for Grays versatility- we definitely need it right now.
View: https://x.com/THFCReports/status/1869723402170139058
I can imagine City didn't offer much playing time, despite Gray having a full season in Championship under his belt, more likely an opportunity to train with first team and 10 minutes playing at the end of every 4th match - same sort of deal that Palmer refused and went to Chelsea.