Home » “I think there’s a special player in there” Pundit has his say on struggling Tottenham man

“I think there’s a special player in there” Pundit has his say on struggling Tottenham man

By Bruce Grove -

Dele Alli made a fine return to the Tottenham starting XI last night against Ludogorets in the Europa League.

The Englishman has had a tough time in this campaign as he continues to struggle for a place in Jose Mourinho’s team.

Everyone knows that the attacker is talented, but Mourinho doesn’t care that much about talent if the player in question will not put in the work.

Alli started this season in the worse possible manner after he was subbed off at half time in Tottenham’s first league game of the season against Everton, that has happened on at least one more occasion.

The Special One has been giving Alli chances to play for the team in the Europa League and other competitions, but he still hasn’t impressed enough to make a return to the starting XI for Premier League games.

Last night he showed what he can do and Owen Hargreaves was full of praise for him after he provided two assists.

Hargreaves told BT Sport as quoted by Mail Online: ‘When he gets physical and gets into the game and gets angry, he plays with a chip on his shoulder. 

‘He took those moments to build a bit of confidence and then the flair comes out. (Against Antwerp) it was safe and the confidence wasn’t there. 

‘I’m happy for him, I think there’s a special player in there and he’s too good to not be playing football. The good thing is he can look at Ndombele last year and what he gives to the team now.

‘Dele can do that but if he’s going to play in the team he has go get goals and assists and get that chip back. Mourinho likes players who are a bit angry, but if he plays like he did today he’ll get better.’ 

Tags Dele Alli NewsNow Owen Hargreaves
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BigStew
BigStew
3 years ago

I personally thought Dele played well, a little ‘rusty’ perhaps but he put himself about, worked hard & was physical.
Unselfishly playing in Vinicius for hisc2nd goal went down well with José, he’s all for team players.

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago

Not everything came off for Dele last night but he was constantly looking to play the decisive pass or pick out runners and had a hand in three of the four goals better finishing by others and he would have had more assists.Very unselfish to give Vinicius one on a plate when he could have scored himself. Dele,Vinicius,Winks all played well with N’dombele getting my MOTM.9/10

Eddie
Eddie
3 years ago

I don’t particularly like BT’s presentation of football and most of their pundits.How Humphreys and Hargreaves waxed lyrical about Dele Alli and described him as brilliant left me totally perplexed.
Yes he got an assist for one goal which I acknowledged last night,an attempted pass for Vinny’s fist took a deflection.He harried a bit more than usual,misplaced a number of passes and his shooting was fairly average.His pirouettes looked pretty though.Maybe I was watching a different match.
What we need to do is put this game into context.Ludogorets were a pub team at best with zero ambition show by their stats of 0 shots on goal and 0 shots on target.
I would be amazed if Alli is even in the squad for the game against Chelsea as it is a match many leagues above last night’s fare.Against last night’s opposition I expected more from him if he is serious about progressing under Mourinho.

Urbane Sturgeon
Urbane Sturgeon
3 years ago

Go on the Deli Alley Chips!

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