The Athletic’s Tim Spiers has said that he would be amazed if Ange Postecoglou turned to Ashley Phillips ahead of Eric Dier if there was an injury to one of Cristian Romero or Micky van de Ven.
Posteocoglou is now woefully short of options at central defence after the departures of Davinson Sanchez and Japhet Tanganga during the summer transfer window.
While Romero and Van de Ven have formed a formidable partnership at the back, Dier is the only other senior centre-back that Postecoglou has at his disposal as a backup to the Argentine and the Dutchman.
18-year-old Phillips, who arrived from Blackburn Rovers during the summer, is quite highly rated and has even been named on the bench on a few occasions ahead of Dier.
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Ashley Phillips must be impressing at Tottenham
Both Dier and Phillips were unused substitutes during Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Fulham, and James Maw has said that the teenager is further along in his development than many at Spurs anticipated.
He said on The Athleitc’s View from the Lane Podcast: “I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I think there has kind of been a suggestion, I mean [Ange] Postecoglou has certainly talked up [Ashley] Phillips hasn’t he?
“I think the suggestion has kind of been that he’s further along than they expected him to be at this point. But, the fact that he hasn’t played a minute of football either.”
However, Spiers disagreed with the assessment, stating that he believes Dier is ahead of the youngster in the pecking order.
He added: “I’d be amazed if Phillips got in ahead of [Eric] Dier. I think there were a couple of games earlier in the season where he got in ahead of Dier just before the window closed.
“So, maybe they were thinking Dier was going to leave and then Dier was out ill one week. But otherwise, it’s been Dier ahead in the pecking order.”
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Postecoglou did mention that Dier has had a few injuries this season, which might be the reason why Phillips was named on the bench ahead of the England international on a few occasions.
If there is an injury to one of Romero or Van de Ven, I believe that Dier is more likely to come into the team, given his experience.
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