Eric Dier has backed Vincent Janssen to adapt to English football after a testing start to life at Tottenham Hotspur.
The Holland international scored his second goal for the club in the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in the EFL Cup on Tuesday but has yet to find the net for his new side in the Premier League.
Janssen moved to Spurs from AZ Alkmaar in the summer for around £17m after he scored 27 times in the Eredivisie last season, earning him the 2016 Johan Cruyff Trophy – awarded to the division’s young player of the year. He has yet to establish himself at White Hart Lane, with Mauricio Pochettino opting for Son Heung-min in the absence of the injured Harry Kane.
Dier, who came through Sporting Lisbon’s youth academy before returning to England in 2014, believes the 22-year-old will take time to adapt to his surroundings.
“I can speak from experience, when you come from a different country – he’s come from Holland – it’s not easy,” said Dier after the defeat at Anfield. “People at home may not understand, but he’s come from a different country, a different culture. He moved here by himself. He’s got to get used to a whole new way of training, playing, a whole new way of life. These things take time. It’s only natural he will keep on improving.
“I don’t think he’s been bad. He has great qualities and he’s shown them again today. It’s more a case of the team being better in the final third than one player.”
Tottenham’s defeat at Anfield was the first time they have been beaten in a domestic match this season. It also extended their run without a victory to four matches having drawn their previous three but Dier expects Spurs to respond when they entertain the champions Leicester on Saturday.
He said: “That’s the attitude we have to have. If you want to be a big club and you want to be challenging, then when you have a defeat, you have to bounce back strongly. That will be our aim.
“There are 29 games to go, there’s a long way to go. I’m sure it will be very tight sometimes and I’m sure there will be gaps at other times. It’s a bit premature to be talking about this because a couple of weeks ago, Man City, they were five or six points ahead and everyone was saying they are going to run away with it. The Premier League chops and changes and I’m sure it will come down to the wire.”
Asked if he thought the Premier League was more competitive than ever before, Dier added: “I think so. There are a lot of teams up and around challenging, like ourselves. I think you will be able to tell after we go into this very busy period now.
“From our experience last season, once you come out of the busy Christmas period, that’s where you can gauge better where everyone is. There are so many games now and once you come out of that, that’s when you can see who’s better prepared.”