Eric Dier celebrated his England recall in the best way possible with a brilliant header in Tottenham's 6-2 win over Leicester City on Saturday evening. Having fallen behind early on to Youri Tielemans' retaken penalty, Dier put Spurs in front from Ivan Perisic's corner not long after Harry Kane had restored parity.
It was in fact the 28-year-old's second goal of the campaign having scored in the opening day win over Southampton, with his previous strike coming all the way back in May 2019 in the 2-2 draw with Everton on the final day of the campaign. With Antonio Conte previously admitting that he wants more goals from his player due to his presence in the box, it was also one of Dier's aims to get himself on the scoresheet more often.
"One of my objectives is to score more goals and I think it's something I wanted to do more, my manager wanted me to do more," he admitted. "It's something I have been focusing on so I am very happy to have two now and hopefully get some more."
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Tottenham's attacking quality was there to see on Saturday against Leicester with Son Heung-min coming off the bench and netting a hat-trick in just over 13 minutes. As goals are always going to be there with Kane, Son, Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison in attack, Dier believes the Lilywhites will win games providing they keep clean sheets.
"I think we have a lot of attacking quality and we have added Richy as well," explained the ex-Sporting CP man. "We have so much attacking quality going forward that, as I always say, if we keep clean sheets we will win games because we definitely score goals."
Performing very well in his centre-back role under Conte, England boss Gareth Southgate had previously opted against recalling Dier for the first time since March 2021 due to the other options at his disposal at centre-back. However, he had little choice but to call him up once again following his standout displays for Tottenham.
Rather than remaining behind at Hotspur Way with a handful of the Tottenham team who did not receive international call-ups for this month's fixtures, Dier will link up with the England squad ahead of their UEFA Nations League fixtures against Italy and Germany. The player is not getting ahead of himself, though, and just focusing on his return rather than an immediate place back in the starting XI.
"I'm not thinking that far ahead at all. I am just looking forward to going and I think as my manager said during the week, for me it is my ambition for this just to be a starting point for me. I think I can still do a lot more," he said.
"Honestly, it (a recall) wasn't what I was thinking about. I was just thinking about being as good a player as I can be for Tottenham and everything else that happens is a consequence of that. I think that's the only thing I had to focus on and the only thing that was in my control. Everything else that happens, happens.
"For me, I am just very thankful for the way that my teammates, coaching staff and everyone at Tottenham has supported me, pushed me and tried to help me get back to the national team."
It was so crucial for Dier to be named in Southgate's England squad for this month's international break with the World Cup on the horizon in November. If he had indeed missed out the Italy and Germany games over the next week, the Spurs man believes his World Cup hopes probably would be over.
"Obviously, yeah, I think so. If I wasn’t in this one, then I think so," he admitted.
Despite his exile from the England setup since his last call-up in early 2021, Dier has revealed that he had spoken to Southgate on one occasion.
"Yeah I spoke to him once," said the centre-back. "As I said, I was just focusing on what's in my control and that's playing well for Tottenham."
With international caps hopefully coming his way in this international break and then in the World Cup, the player is just focusing on his game and keeping his performances up and bettering them. He still believes he can be "a lot better" and that only bodes well for Tottenham in the process.
"Keep playing well, I think it's really as simple as that. Keep playing well, keep playing better and better," he claimed. "As I said, I am just focusing on keep trying to improve and get better and I think I can still be a lot better."
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