Eric Dier said: “He has to expect that from players like Stoke have, experienced players who have been around the block, he needs to expect players will irritate him, try to get in his head. But he knows that and he handles it very well. It’s only normal he will get better at it over time.
“He is very young and that (tackle against Gent) won’t be the last mistake he makes. He will make more mistakes and the most important thing is he learns from them and reacts in the right way, and he does.”
Dier added: “He was very disappointed after what happened on Thursday and there has been a lot of attention on him.”
At the risk of labouring the point, Sunday was arguably Dele Alli’s best performance for Spurs.
Can he maintain the discipline?
We’ll soon find out – because Stoke won’t be the only boys playing rough with Alli – since he decided to tick the ‘stupid’ publicity box.
