ESPN pundit tears into Eric Dier for 'horrible' mistake in Spurs draw

By Jordan Harris

Steve Nicol has torn into Eric Dier for the mistake that gave Brentford the corner from which they scored their second goal against Tottenham Hotspur on Boxing Day, telling ESPN that it was a horrible error.

Spurs earned a point from their clash with the Bees. But, once again, they left themselves with an uphill battle trying to take anything from the game against Thomas Frank’s side.

Tottenham conceded the first goal for the ninth game running. And they made their task even more difficult, conceding the second of the game, when Ivan Toney found himself in the right place at the right time from a corner.

The marking from the corner was poor. But it would not have come to that had Dier not sliced a clearance behind.

It appeared to be a fairly simple task for Dier to get the ball away. However, he got it all wrong. And Nicol clearly could not believe that the Tottenham centre-back managed to make such a mistake in that moment.

“It’s a lack of composure. You always hear us talking about strikers when they’re going through on goal, looking to have composure, pick a spot. And defenders have to do similar things when they’re making clearances. They have to be composed,” he told ESPN.

“They can’t panic and have a wild swing. Because that’s exactly what Dier’s done. It’s just a wild swing. A guy that was at the World Cup. I mean, seriously? It’s a horrible, horrible decision.”

It does appear that Dier is now struggling to find the form from the early stages of Antonio Conte’s tenure. At the time, the Italian suggested that Dier had the potential to be one of the world’s best in that role between the two wider centre-backs.

His form earned him a spot in the squad for the World Cup. However, his performances have been concerning for a little while now. And Monday saw him make a really costly error.

He is not the biggest worry in the backline, by any means. But with Cristian Romero missing the game, Conte really needed Dier to step up.