Eric Dier reveals one ‘disappointment’ after Tottenham derby win

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier has stated that he is disappointed his side did not win by more goals in Saturday’s North London Derby – and that Spurs fans should not have had to go through a torturous last couple of minutes.

Mauricio Pochettino’s half-time team talk clearly fired the hosts up, with the Lilywhites coming out of the blocks quickly in the second half and getting the break through as Harry Kane headed home.

Tottenham had a period of 20 minutes where they completely dominated proceedings, fashioning chance after chance – but a second goal did not come as Arsenal looked rocked.

Kane was guilty of missing two more excellent opportunities, Dele Alli found himself one-on-one with Petr Cech, Kieran Trippier volleyed straight at the goalkeeper from six yards and Erik Lamela should also have scored.

While the Tottenham fans were happy with a 1-0 win at the full-time whistle, Arsenal had chances to get an undeserved draw, but Alexandre Lacazette fluffed his lines at the death.

Dier stated that Spurs should have been well and truly out of sight by that point and won the game by a bigger margin.

“We dominated the game and second half we countered really well, created lots of chances,” The Express quote the Tottenham enforcer as saying.

“It’s disappointing that we struggled in the last five minutes as the game should have been settled.

“This team has created the mentality where we can dig in if we have to. They had chances at the end but it could have been a much bigger win.”

Dier’s comments show the winning mentality of the Tottenham squad, but also the hunger to improve by focusing on things the team could and should have done better.

Had Arsenal equalised right at the end it would have been a big blow and Pochettino will drive this message across to his team in the aftermath.

Thinking about it in the cold light of Sunday morning after the hysteria has died down, Tottenham really missed a glorious opportunity to beat their rivals very comfortably and fully assert the club’s local dominance.

A couple of relatively recent 5-2 defeats to Arsenal string to mind where they were ruthless and looked to hammer home their superiority – while I am happy Spurs won the game, it would have been beautiful to have thumped them 4 or 5-0.