Tottenham Hotspur continued their shaky run of recent Premier League form against Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, with Antonio Conte's side losing out 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
As is becoming something of an unwanted trait of Spurs', the Italian's side once again found themselves behind at the break - something that was also the case in the 3-2 win over AFC Bournemouth and the 2-1 victory over Olympique de Marseille - with Mohamed Salah's brace giving the Reds a two-goal lead with 45 minutes gone.
However, as has also been the case in recent weeks, Tottenham looked like a completely different side upon their return for the second half.
Although, despite Harry Kane halving the deficit on the 70-minute mark, the north London outfit could not repeat their comeback victories against the Cherries and OM, with the final score ending 2-1.
It would appear that Spurs' slow start to fixtures is becoming an increasingly costly problem for Conte, something that centre-back Eric Dier played a massive part in on Sunday afternoon.
Indeed, the 28-year-old appeared largely at fault for Salah's first at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, with the defender inexplicably being sucked towards the ball as Andrew Robertson was about to deliver a cross, something that resulted in Darwin Nunez being left free in the Spurs box.
When the left-back's cross subsequently found Nunez, Dier's poor positioning afforded the striker the time to turn unchallenged in an incredibly dangerous area.
With both Clement Lenglet and Ben Davies moving over to cover for Dier, this then created space for Salah, with the Uruguayan forward picking out the 30-year-old with ease, before the Egyptian fired beyond Hugo Lloris to give the victors the lead.
The £28.5m-rated defender's error for the second was rather more clear-cut, with Dier's attempted header back to Lloris being easily intercepted by Salah, with the Liverpool hitman making no mistake when one-on-one to give his side a two-goal advantage.
And, ultimately, these two errors by the £85k-per-week centre-back - who Rio Ferdinand once dubbed "criminal" - are what cost Spurs a result on Sunday afternoon - with the England international's performance against Liverpool potentially having blown his chances of securing a spot in Gareth Southgate's 26-man squad for the Qatar World Cup later this month.