Dier on Tottenham’s ‘great challenge’ to ‘shut everyone up’

Eric Dier has viewed Tottenham’s season as “a great challenge” to “shut everyone up”.

Tottenham became the first side in history not to make a single signing in a summer transfer window since its inception in 2003.

They opened their campaign with a 2-1 victory over Newcastle, but many have predicted them to struggle to finish in the top four for a fourth consecutive season.

Dier feels otherwise, and suggests the critics will only fuel them.

“It’s a great challenge for us to shut everyone up, really,” Dier said.

“We’re going to enjoy that challenge. We’ve got a fantastic squad here, fantastic players throughout the team in every position.

“To strengthen it is not easy as well. You can look at all the other teams around us – they might have signed players, but not many of those players that they’ve signed are better than the players they’ve already got.

“Obviously there are signings that have been made which are players of high quality, but in many cases I don’t believe that they’ve signed players that are better than they already have.

“We all really enjoy training together, playing together, being with each other. The manager said it before – we’re in a fight but we’re having to use different tools.

“We’ve known that for the last three years and we have to try and compensate for what other clubs can do in different ways, with our attitude, our work ethic, our desire.”

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