‘It’s not like he did a Cantona’ – Eric Dier defended by Tottenham fan but Jamie O’Hara claims star ‘made a big, big mistake’
Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier ‘made a big, big, mistake’ by climbing into the stands to confront an angry fan following their FA Cup exit to Norwich, according to Jamie O’Hara.
The former Spurs man believes the incident could forever taint Dier’s reputation with supporters, as he threw himself into a crowd to allegedly stop a fight his brother was involved in.
But, that’s not that the opinion of a Tottenham supporter who called into talkSPORT to defend the England international, and insisted the whole incident has been blown out of proportion.
Social media descended into frenzy on Wednesday night after a host of videos and photos were posted of Dier jumping over the barrier and clambering up the stands to apparently confront a fan who was angry after watching his side get dumped out of the FA Cup on penalties.
According to Jose Mourinho, though, he was actually jumping in to defend his brother, who appeared to have got into a scrap with a supporter.
Speaking on Thursday’s Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, O’Hara said he understood Dier’s actions but believe he made a ‘big mistake’ by personally intervening.
However, Steve the Spurs fan defended the player and said he did nothing wrong.
“I don’t think it’s bad at all, I think it’s been blown out of all proportion,” he said after calling into the show.
“He’s not done anything wrong, he hasn’t done a Cantona or anything like that – that didn’t happen.
“I think it’s just a symptom of this country where the people who cause the problems get away with it and Eier is going to cop the flack for it, even though he’s done nothing wrong.”
Giving his take on the incident, O’Hara said: “Eric Dier has made a big, big mistake.
“The problem he’s got now is that’s going to stick with him, that’s what the Spurs fans are going to remember.
“I can understand it because it’s family and when you see family and someone given them stick your emotions can get the better of you.
“But you can’t go marauding through the crowd and climbing up the stands to get to them, because everyone has a camera phone, he’s in a Tottenham shirt, he’s climbing through the crowd and it just looks terrible for him.
“We’re all emotional, especially after games and he knows that was a big game for Tottenham and he knows he should have done better, the team should have done better and they should have gone through, but they haven’t.
“But what you can’t do is react. He just has to try and compose himself.”