Anyone get the impression that Dele Alli doesn’t like being substituted?
The midfielder has been seen to throw his toys out of the pram on more than one occasion this season, most notably in Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge against West Ham, and when he punched the dugout at Watford.
MORE: Dele Alli Punches Dugout After Being Subbed Vs. Watford [Video]
Dele’s latest strop came after Mourinho hooked him with over 25 minutes remaining in tonight’s 1-0 Champions League home defeat to RB Leipzig, throwing his boot to the ground before sitting with his head in his hands.
I understand why this sort of behaviour gets noticed, as it looks rebellious and childish at first glance. But I don’t see anything wrong with Dele expressing his frustration over a difficult evening for him and the team.
In both of the two cases mentioned above, I felt Dele was unfortunate to get subbed, but tonight we played much better after the introduction of Erik Lamela and Tanguy Ndombele, showing more energy and attacking threat.
We can’t fault Dele’s effort though – he covered more ground than any other Spurs player despite playing 25 minutes less. The fling of the boot was a reaction to having little to show for all of that output, nothing more.