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LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino has explained that Eric Dier enabled his Tottenham team to play with three centre-backs long before Antonio Conte used the system to transform Chelsea, and the Spurs manager also took credit for Dier's versatility and success in England. Dier, linked to Manchester United this week, started all but one of Spurs' league matches last season, almost always as a holding midfield in a 4-2-3-1 formation, where he could drop between the centre-backs to form a back three. The 23-year-old joined Spurs from Sporting Lisbon shortly after Pochettino's appointment and he rotated between right-back and centre-back in his first season, before the manager converted him to a midfielder. Pochettino has used a 3-4-2-1 formation for most of this season with Dier back in defence, but he has continued to play in midfield for England. "It's a good thing Eric Dier can play in different positions -- as a midfielder, as a centre back, as a full-back. It is important to analyse from where he came from, his history here from day one," Pochettino said on Thursday. "He came from Portugal but I think people are a bit confused sometimes. We signed him as a young player with potential. We provided all the tools [for him] to be a Premier League player, playing well. My first game in charge at West Ham, he started as a centre-back, in which he scored [in a 1-0 win]. "When Kyle Naughton got the red card and he moved to full-back and scored. That season, he played as a full-back, as a centre-back, but never as a midfielder. In the summer, we were looking for a midfielder and we had plenty of options to bring midfielder here but I decided to play him in midfield." With Dier further forward, Spurs were able to seamlessly switch between 4-2-3-1 and a fluid three-at-the-back formation -- similar to the system that has helped Conte turn Chelsea into champions-elect. Back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal in September prompted the Chelsea manager to switch to three centre-backs and the Blues have not looked back, winning their next 13 matches before Pochettino's team halted the run with a 2-0 win in January. Chelsea are now 10 points clear of second-placed Spurs at the top of the Premier League table with 10 games to play. "I created a system that he [Dier] felt comfortable in," Pochettino explained. "He played like a midfielder without the ball, with the ball he was a third centre-back. You can see in possession he dropped in between the centre-backs, or between the full-back and the centre-back and always we played with three. "People say now that Chelsea changed the system -- no. Last season, we always played a three in possession. Out of possession, Eric moved in front and without the ball he tried to press and play like a midfielder. "Then we signed [Victor] Wanyama and both played, but we had some injuries like Toby [Alderweireld] and Jan [Vertonghen], and Eric was the perfect player to play as a centre back. As for Victor, you can see his performance so far. "That is a good thing for the player, the possibility to play in different positions and doing well in every one."
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