The flashpoint over Dier’s injury was 3 minutes earlier and Ange was calm and composed when the final question was thrown at him and it was also from a different journo. So the two answers and the manner of them were not related IMO.
The question was clearly about whether we could afford for Dier to leave. He said yes. So, if you’re Dier and you had any aspirations of being part of the group, you’re hearing “Romero and Davies are injured, we have only one other experienced centre back and he’s 21 and coming back from injury and this fella is saying he can afford to lose me.” It’s a moot point really coz I think Dier knows he’s off but I’d imagine that’s why
@Baleforce thought it was disrespectful.
To answer your question, a more diplomatic way to answer it would have been “it wouldn’t be ideal to lose anyone but it could happen. Whatever comes our way, we’ll deal with it like we’ve dealt with everything else.” But he wasn’t diplomatic, he was very pointed and knew what he was doing. Which is fine. That’s his right and it may work to his advantage depending on what he’s trying to achieve.