Time for England to move on from ‘nightmare’
ERIC DIER believes England would be “a bit stupid” not to learn from the mistakes made during a dismal Euro 2016 campaign.
The Three Lions begin life under Sam Allardyce with a World Cup qualifier away to Slovakia on Sunday as they bid to put a summer of discontent behind them.
Having qualified for the European Championship with a 100 per cent record, England crashed out at the last-16 stage in France as they were surprisingly beaten by Iceland. That led to Roy Hodgson leaving his post and the appointment of Allardyce, who has already set about changing the set-up at St George’s Park and the atmosphere among the squad.
And, while Dier is keen to look ahead rather than think back to that loss in Nice, the Tottenham midfielder knows there are lessons to be learned from the humbling elimination.
“You don’t want to wipe away the history but it is a fresh start for everyone,” he said.
“There is a new manager and he is going to have different opinions and different views. Everyone is going to have to prove themselves again and I’m no exception.
“It was a very bad day for everybody involved, for the whole country and every football fan in England. It is one we want to put behind us. It will be good to play another game and put that one behind us. Those things happen in football and they are gone now. We just have to look forward.
“When you make mistakes and things don’t go well, the best you can do is learn from them. You have to learn from the negatives and that was a big negative. If you don’t learn from them, then you are a bit stupid.”
Dier, 22, has two goals from his 11 senior caps and, despite such a relatively small amount of international experience, found himself as one of the names mooted as an option to be Allardyce’s England captain.
The duty ultimately remained with Wayne Rooney, with Dier insisting he would take everything he has learned from the Manchester United man and apply it to himself were he to ever have the honour bestowed upon him.
“It is nice if people are mentioning you in that way, it means you are doing something right,” he said when asked about suggestions he could have been named as Allardyce’s captain.
“But I’m delighted that Wayne is still the captain, I think he is a fantastic captain.”