After the loss midweek to Royal Antwerp, José Mourinho will be looking to get Tottenham back on track, and after looking at some comments online since the Europa clash, one can only hope that the players are more concerned than some fans are. The losing mentality at Tottenham has to go and if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t matter who we buy and who we get in to coach them. The outcomes will always be the same.
As per this blog’s archive, the problem is mostly internal; Levy has for 20 years sanctioned reaping the benefits of mixing it with top flight clubs, without Spurs actually being one, because we never won anything.
However, externally we’re a mess as well. Enter a millennial, to prove my point. Dan Kilpatrick typifies the torturous Mr Nice Guy middle ground, where it is in almost deemed rather nasty to expect too much from a footballer – even after six seasons of threatening to be an important player.
Dele Alli has been under par more time than Seve Ballesteros, yet it is deemed inappropriate for the boy to mount a comeback via cameos in (and this is the best bit) unfamiliar teams we are told! There’s more.
Whatever the case behind the scenes, at present it feels like Alli is not being given a fair opportunity to rise to Mourinho’s public challenges. As inconsequential as last night’s match was in the grand scheme of things, it could be the beginning of the end for some of Spurs’ fringe players.
Dan Kilpatrick
Alli has amassed a colossal amount of game time at Tottenham. In his 6 seasons he’s made 158 Premier League appearances. Pochettino played him unthinkingly and ultimately to little good end.
Until this ‘ah-diddums’ routine is dispensed with, then Tottenham are doomed. Above we can already see the notes being made, to be produced in evidence at a later date, against the Portuguese.
Dele Alli has not been a loyal servant or any other weird phrase one might care to anoint him with. He has been an invariable disappointment and anyone countering that is part of the problem.
Come the summer, or perhaps even this winter, I predict that Dele Alli will be on his way to pastures new. It cannot come soon enough. Now where did I put my crayons?
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Ha ha ha …. me too now you mention it.
Some good points mate. Not sure if all are valid though. Deles performances had nosedived dramatically under Botch long before Jose took over. And any good player can learn new styles and ways to play. He’s not been asked to play centre back or up top or in goal. To get to his level he knows already about learning and adapting and taking on different styles. His attitude in general has always seemed fine to me… Similar to De Geas fall from grace its baffling.. Like you say noone knows whats going on his mind…. The only man who can sort him out is Dele himself…. Beckham played well in the middle by the way. Sir Alex always had him on the wing. But later on he often played in the middle for Madrid, AC Milan and LA Galaxy… Dele couldnt pass 5 yards last thursday.. Somethings very wrong. Like his confidence is shot.
I’ve been hoping this for well over a year now..
I’m still hoping he can get his nut down and work his way back in to some sort of form. Although his last two appearances have done a lot to crush that hope.
Three issues pertain:
1. The injuries he had. Each of the past two seasons.
2. The style Mourinho wants him to play.
3. His attitude.
It’s all very well coruscating him, but if you had told David Beckham to take on Roy Keane’s role at Utd, he would have been a total shambles. The fact remains he was the best crosser of a football the past 30 years in English football. What he never was was a tough midfield enforcer.
So if Ali has been told to play in a way he has never played before, is totally alien to him and he has little talent for, then don’t expect him to be Diego Maradona reincarnated. I have no clue if that situation pertains, but if it does, he won’t be the world’s best at it in 3 weeks, it might take 9 months. If 9 months is too long, he may not get a chance to stay.
It’s also perfectly possible that he is not the hard nut that the author quite clearly always has been. A team requires a balance of hard nuts and creative genii and it’s arguable that Spurs have always been under-represented in the hard nut department in the 2010s. Any scout who told me to buy Dele as a hard nut would be summarily fired by me….he wouldn’t last five minutes in a punch up with Troy Deeney, would he? That’s not his function, never has been.
I remember well 15 years ago being told that ‘you’re seven levels higher than that bunch’ but that didn’t stop ‘that bunch’ trying to lower me to their level with organised rotational bullying, completely repulsive intrusive surveillance and any amount of snide sneering to cover up their own complete and utter human uselessness. AS the owners of the company were Man Utd season ticket holders, my solution was to leave and write a seminal football song for the supporters of Manchester City. History tells us all the rest. Including Roy Keane and Lee Dixon teaming up on ITV football shows….
I’m not saying any of that kind of stuff has happened to Dele, but trust me, if you try to turn Thierry Henry into Martin Keown you’ll lose all the goals and assists and find your player injured through picking fights with people who’re going to win those fights…
What’s clear is that someone has to be able to understand what is going on in that young man’s mind. I don’t know what’s going on, but I suspect something has either really, really narked him or really really hurt him. Something that has lowered his motivations, lowered his competitive streak and lowered his self-confidence and fearlessness. The ‘fight or flight’ impulse in the male species does say that, if he feels he’s lost a particular fight, then flight is the preferred course of action.
The problem in situations like this is that selling Dele to a competitor and him succeeding again would be a prize embarrassment. I know what that feels like: ‘if we can’t have him, then no way can he go anywhere else!’ It’s not exactly part of the Western Freedoms, is it? It’s the way the world works. If you’re pretty bang average, you can go work anywhere else. If you’re potentially top drawer, then the ‘stopping you working’ mantra rises far higher up.
tbh I forget about him until someone writes another article
Couldn’t reply about Dier as it was locked, but agreed. He is vital because he’s the most assured we have apart from Tobes, Dier has more pace though. Jose knew we needed new blood at CB, whether Skriniar was even close I don’t know, but signatures like this can define a season. You can’t paper over cracks with Davies at CB. Chelsea threw a shed load and more to make them competitive, Levy threw a bit of a kid’s play house full of solid transfers. Time will tell, but top 4 is very much in reach.
Seve Ballesteros. Brilliant.
Time to stop discussing Ali, it’s way over analysed and not important currently.
Tonight’s line up is my preferred team. It’s the best we have. No Aurier. No Sanchez. No Winks. No Moura. Bale on bench. If this 11 can’t win we can all give up.
Kilpatrick should be avoided. Many journos are shockingly bad. For years now whenever I come across Dans reports they are seemingly from an adolescent.
Dele has been poor for two seasons now. Only himself can turn it around now. Not sure if its money or fame which has gone to his head. Or something behind the scenes we don’t know about. He was magical 3 and 4 seasons ago and producing consistently… Dele and also De Gea at United has left me scratching my head.. Such sudden falls from grace. The clock is ticking, no improvement then he has to go..