Tottenham: Eric Dier asks fans to be patient with misfiring striker Vincent Janssen
The Dutchman, a £17m summer signing from AZ Alkmaar, has not scored from open play since arriving at White Hart Lane
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Your support makes all the difference.Eric Dier has called for patience with Tottenham forward Vincent Janssen after admitting that the £17m summer signing is struggling to adapt to life in England.
The 22-year-old scored only his second goal in a Spurs shirt when netting from the penalty spot during Tuesday’s EFL Cup fourth round defeat at Liverpool, but the former AZ Alkmaar striker was also guilty of a series of missed chances at Anfield.
Having been signed by Mauricio Pochettino to ease the goalscoring burden on Harry Kane, Janssen is still waiting for his first Premier League goal following a number of unconvincing performances.
But Dier, who struggled to acclimatise to English football in the early months after his £4m move from Sporting Lisbon in 2014, insists that Janssen needs time to settle into a new environment with Tottenham.
"I can speak from experience,” Dier said. “When you come from a different country - he's come from Holland - it's not easy.
“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.”
Janssen’s battle for form has seen him struggle to claim a regular starting place under Pochettino, but Dier believes his performance at Anfield showed signs of encouragement.
"I don't think he's been bad,” Dier said. “He has great qualities and he's shown them again against Liverpool.
“It's more a case of the team needing to be better in the final third than one player."
Tuesday’s EFL Cup exit came as a result of Tottenham’s first domestic defeat of the campaign.
But with the team still unbeaten in the Premier League ahead of Saturday’s encounter with champions Leicester City, Dier is confident that Spurs can bounce back quickly from the Anfield loss.
There are a lot of teams up and around challenging, like ourselves. From our experience last season, once you come out of the busy Christmas period, that's where you can gauge better where everyone is.
“That's the attitude we have to have,” he said. “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.
"In the league, there are 29 games to go, so 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, but it's a bit premature to be talking about this because a couple of weeks ago, Manchester 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.
“There are a lot of teams up and around challenging, like ourselves. 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."
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