Individual mistakes continually plague Tottenham centre back

Eric Dier has gained a reputation for being the architect of his own demise, with the Englishman’s own goal against Newcastle the latest in a string of needless mishaps. 

Dier’s late own goal could have undone all of Tottenham’s positive work at St. James’ Park yesterday afternoon. Luckily for Dier, Tottenham were able to see out the match despite the centre back’s hapless blunder.

Dier could be forgiven if it was a one-off error. Unfortunately it was yet another grave personal blunder in a long line of harebrained mistakes. There are too many grave errors to recall, most of which occurring in recent seasons.

He was infamously withdrawn at 29 minutes after trailing 2-0 to Olympiacos at home in the Champions League during the early days of Jose Mourinho’s reign. That was one of his last outings as a holding midfielder.

Mourinho had no intentions of giving up on Dier, who recovered from a litany of injuries to gain prominence in the Portuguese gaffer’s plans.

But Dier endured a disappointing campaign under Mourinho, even with the Special One’s early unwavering support of the Englishman. Due to the abundance of points Dier cost Spurs, even Mourinho eventually lost faith.

Spurs, during the tail end of the 2020-2021 campaign, endured a shocking run of form — two wins from 12 matches — with Dier marshalling the backline.

Whether conceding a penalty last season against Timo Werner that directly led to Chelsea’s only goal of the match, or handling late — although the penalty decision was particularly harsh — against Newcastle, Dier continues to be a mistake waiting to happen.

More recently, Dier fell asleep, allowing Ollie Watkins to nip at the front post and equalize for Aston Villa.

He has also seen more than his fair share of abject performances. One wonders how many lives Dier has before he is permanently ousted from Spurs’ starting team. Davinson Sanchez is just as mistake prone, while Joe Rodon hasn’t been in contention since Nuno took the helm.

Japhet Tanganga is preferred at right back, so Dier’s place in Spurs’ starting team will endure. One would think the damage he has caused his team in recent years is irreparable, but with Dier one never knows.

The man who has exponentially more lives than a cat may yet have more to burn as Nuno figures out what to do with capricious, error-riddled centre back.