Antonio Conte has been instrumental in turning around Tottenham’s mentality to earn Sunday’s edgy 1-0 win over Burnley, says Eric Dier.
The defender helped keep a vital clean sheet as a Spurs side not at their best jumped Arsenal to claim fourth place ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Newcastle on Monday.
For Dier, the victory was of stark contrast to Tottenham’s defeat at Turf Moor earlier in the season which also came after a major win for his team.
“He is right,” Dier told reporters when asked about Conte’s claim that Spurs’ mentality has improved.
“I think coming off the Arsenal game… In the past, if you look at the last Burnley game away, we beat Manchester City away a couple days before then we lose away to Burnley.
“We are making steps in the right direction and today was another one. That comes down to the manager and his influence over us and us feeding off that and trying to do what he wants from us.
“We have been improving constantly under him and the results have come with that. There’s still so much space for us to improve under him.”
Dier described life under Conte and made clear his hope that the Italian will remain at Tottenham for some time.
“It is a big contrast him on the touchline and training pitch to him off it,” added the centre-back. “At half time and in meetings at training he is very calm and gets his message across very clearly, but passionately always.
“But on the training pitch and on the touchline he is so aggressive and intense. There’s so much intensity in training. Training is the same as it is [in games], he just feels and lives it and that just rubs off on you.
“You feel that passion that he shows and all his staff as well. It has been so enjoyable to work under him.”
He continued: “I can speak for the group of players, and I think the manager would agree as well, the relationship between this group and the manager is something special and I really want to continue to build that relationship. There’s so much room for improvement. With this group and this manager, it would be a shame for it to end now.”
