Tim Sherwood has stated that Eric Dier was ‘panicking’ when he saw Mo Salah gunning down on him during Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
Liverpool might not be at their best this season, but the last thing you want to do is to be handing gifts to players like Salah because they will still punish you.
Alisson Becker punted the ball down the field in an attempt to find Salah making his typical forward runs.
The Brazil international didn’t direct the ball like he would have wanted to, and instead, put it straight into Dier’s aerial path.
But rather than simply heading the ball back to Hugo Lloris in between the sticks, Dier must have had a large yet invisible twenty pence coin on his head because it ended up going straight into the path of the on-rushing Salah, who accepted the gift, and double his side’s lead.
Given that Dier knew Salah was very close by to him, Sherwood made it clear that he should have headed the ball back down field, rather than back to his keeper, as he told Premier League Productions (06/11/22 at 6:35 pm).
“For me, I think he has to head it up the field,” said Sherwood. “If it connects with his head, then it goes back to Hugo Lloris. But it was a wonderful finish again.
“A poor individual error – as soon as this ball goes forward onto Eric Dier’s head. Look at Mo (Salah), he knows he’s there, so he should choose to head it up the field.
“He continues with the same thing and puts that doubt in his mind. Takes his eye off it. What Eric can see, in the corner of his eye, is the blur of red and he knows it’s Mo Salah. Now he’s panicking.”
LACK OF TOTTENHAM COMPOSURE
Shortly after that Dier error, Lloris was in on the action as well because he nearly made a costly error whilst taking an age to boot the ball when being closed down.
This is becoming a constant theme with Spurs, and whilst they might be able to get over the line against the likes of Bournemouth, it’s going to be a different story when teams like Newcastle and Liverpool come to town.
The issue here is that they have to be looking over their shoulder now because several teams below them have a game in hand on the London club and are starting to hunt them down, none other than Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
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