Dominic Ball emulating Eric Dier

In the summer there was a clamour for a defensive midfielder to be bought, but Mauricio Pochettino had other ideas. He told Daniel Levy he could turn Eric Dier into a holding midfielder and save the club forking out on another player.

We scouted players and did all the homework in case Dier didn't take to the role in England, he had played the role for Sporting in Portugal previously. We have seen the outcome so when Pochettino says other players can play as a lone forward, he should have earned our trust.

Up in Scotland, we have a player on loan at Ranger, centre-back Dominic Ball. Due to a suspension, he was asked to move forward into the holding midfield role, the same as Dier. he did so well in helping to keep a clean sheet that he retained the role even after the suspended player was available again. he may well retain the role for a third consecutive game considering both games he has played there have been clean sheets.

Mark Warburton spoke to RangersTV and praised the Spurs on-loan youngster.

"I thought Dom Ball was excellent sitting in front of the back four. He was tidy, he was neat in what he did. So I'm really pleased with Dom. The centre-halves were strong as well."

Playing different position will help develop his reading of the game and help him to understand what is going through other players minds if and when he reverts back to centre-half.

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