Dier, Alli give Spurs potent 1-2 punch

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/04/2016 (3832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This is a big weekend for some young, English sportsmen.

Today, at O2 Arena in London, undefeated heavyweight and 2012 Olympic boxing gold medallist Anthony Joshua will look to take the IBF belt from southpaw Charles Martin, who is also yet to lose a professional bout.

Sunday, in the same city, Tottenham Hotspur will be counting on the breakthrough duo of Eric Dier and Dele Alli when they host Manchester United at White Hart Lane.

Currently seven points back of Premier League leaders Leicester, who will have faced Sunderland by the time the first ball is kicked in the capital, Spurs are the only serious contenders remaining in the title race — the only outfit positioned to capitalize on a potential Foxes stumble.

And their English contingent has been integral to their success, which will include a return to the Champions League at the very least.

Twenty-five-year-old fullbacks Kyle Walker and Danny Rose have been important contributors for Tottenham this term, as has 22-year-old striker and Premier League goal-scoring leader Harry Kane, who has quickly become an English football household name.

But rather less was expected from Dier, 22, and Alli, 19, although the latter’s emphatic arrival in North London — announced with seven goals and nine assists — has put him on highlight shows and in Twitter vines with predictable regularity.

Dier, for his part, has had a somewhat more understated campaign — one that only began to be properly appreciated after his match-winning performance for England against Germany last month.

Operating just in front of the defence, which is where he played for Spurs last season, the midfielder consistently frustrated the first-choice Germany attack before popping up with a late winner. Alli, who plays further upfield and also caught the eye in Berlin, was quick to congratulate his friend and teammate.

“Great win against Germany,” he posted to Instagram, along with an image of himself piggy-backing on Dier. “Buzzing for my big bro getting the winner.”

The Dier-Alli bromance can only be a good thing for both club and country, and after the international friendly Spurs manager Mauricio remarked the England midfield was “set” thanks to the two players.

“On the first day of training I asked (Dier) to try playing in midfield,” he added. “He was convinced it would work out, and it has.”

Spurs and England have Sporting Clube de Portugal to thank for that.

Having moved to Portugal with his family in 2001, Dier was enrolled in Sporting’s youth academy as a seven-year-old. He played a lot of seven-a-side football in Lisbon, and, as he told The Guardian in October, was allowed to learn from his mistakes.

“When I first came to England to play I saw coaches having a go at players when they made mistakes, and they would literally be talking them through the game,” he explained. “In Portugal the coach would sit on the bench and not say a word. We’d just play.”

One of those coaches, Jesualdo Ferreira, handed the then-19-year-old, who had played his first match for the club at right-back, a midfield debut against Porto in a massive, national derby.

That experience in the position, and those that followed, required Dier to adopt a more nuanced way of reading the game — something he’s demonstrated time and again with Spurs. And the more technical nature of Portuguese football equipped him with the ball-playing ability and general smarts that have helped make his current club the stingiest in the Premier League.

That it’s also one of the most enjoyable to watch is hardly a coincidence, as Dier’s reliability in a deep-lying role allows the likes of Alli the freedom to express themselves. The friendship enjoyed by the two only enhances the fun factor.

In February, while Dier was sparring with his trainer, Alli filmed the conditioning exercise and tweeted the footage to Joshua, who had knocked out his 15th straight opponent two months prior and was preparing for the Martin fight.

The boxer playfully replied that Alli was Dier’s “promoter,” to which Dier responded he hoped his promoter had arranged “some good medical care if I do wake up afterwards.”

Joshua, 26, is widely touted as the up-and-coming superstar of the heavyweight division and is surely on a collision course with reigning WBA, WBO and IBO champion Tyson Fury. He’s the big story this weekend.

Dier, meanwhile, will look to quietly stop yet another opponent of his own and continue in his development as an elite defensive midfielder.

Both could go into the summer as champions. Both have English sport feeling good about itself.

jerradpeters@gmail.com Twitter @JerradPeters