LONDON -- Eric Dier has warned his Tottenham Hotspur teammates that they will look back with regret if they do not win a trophy with the current squad.
Dier captained Spurs as they reached the FA Cup fourth-round with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday, but the club has not won the trophy since 1991 and they last won silverware with the League Cup in 2008.
Spurs reached the League Cup final in 2014 but manager Mauricio Pochettino has since prioritised the Premier League, challenging Leicester City for the title last season, only to finish third.
Spurs are out of the League Cup but Pochettino has said he wants to do better in the FA Cup, having overseen fourth- and fifth-round exits so far, and Dier says the current squad is determined to win something.
"Football is about winning trophies," Dier said after goals from Ben Davies and Son Heung-Min secured victory over Villa at White Hart Lane.
"If you ask us later on in life and we hadn't won a trophy with the squad we have now, the players we've got and the basis we have to do that ... everyone would be disappointed.
"We've got to keep working hard and improving as there is still a lot we can work on before we reach that level, and the whole squad is desperate to win trophies.
"Every game we play we want to win, no matter the competition or opponent, which means winning something at the end of it. That's our aim no matter what team is out there.
"It's very difficult. FA Cup is difficult -- it's a knockout, where you play lower-league teams with nothing to lose. They will throw everything at you and in a one-off game anything can happen. But that is our aim, to stay in every competition as long as possible and fight on all fronts."
Pochettino has said that Dier could be a future captain of both Tottenham and England, and the 22-year-old wore the armband for the first time against Villa.
Asked if he wanted to be club captain, Dier said: "I hope so, maybe one day. We have some fantastic captains here at the moment but I'm still young. Hopefully one day maybe I will get that honour but I am focused on playing for Tottenham nothing else."
Asked if leadership comes naturally, he said: "I like to think so. It doesn't affect me. When I was younger going through age groups at Sporting, I was captain. I was captain before -- it's not something new to me. But I'm not the man to tell you if I'm a good captain or not: other people are."
Dier also backed his best friend and teammate Dele Alli to get even better after the 20-year-old made it seven goals in three league matches with a double Chelsea on Wednesday, before helping to change the game from the bench against Villa.
"He's scoring a lot of goals which has put him in the headlines but I'm not sure if it's the best form he's shown," Dier said. "Last season there were times when he was fantastic as well but he can do better as well. I'm sure he can."
Meanwhile, teenage defender Cameron Carter-Vickers hailed teammate Toby Alderweireld after playing most of the match next to the Belgian on his FA Cup bow.
"He's very vocal out there, he helps me a lot. You can learn from [watching] him as well. I look at the things he does and try to do them too," Carter-Vickers said.
The U.S. youth international has also had some one-on-one instruction from former Spurs captain Ledley King.
"It's another way for me to learn, especially with legends like Ledley and internationals like Jan [Vertonghen] and Toby," he added. "I'm learning from them every day."