Against Liverpool, Dele Alli was frankly appalling in so many respects. This is not an opinion, but a reflection upon really concerning numbers across a whole variety of disciplines.
The 25-year-old lost possession 21 times, and on 12 occasions this occurred in his own half.
Against Southampton – who played with 10 men for the most part – Dele only gave the ball away 11 times (on 7 occasions this was in the Tottenham half).
Looking at his overall game against Saints, Dele’s total successful actions were a miserable 47%.
Let’s dwell upon that for a moment. The tossing of a coin, which requires no talent, gives you a 50-50 chance of a preferred outcome
One would hope that the outcomes of an elite athlete would be significantly better than this. However, as Dele has proved on numerous occasions now, giving him a football is likely to produce outcomes less favourable than calling a coin toss correctly.
If we look at this influence graphic, for an attacking midfielder who played for 65-minutes, this was a nondescript performance.
I take a view that Dele is merely another casualty of Daniel Levy’s focus upon his grand design. The time to sell Dele Alli was when he wasn’t delivering, but there was still optimism. Now, we have a player who is no longer in Gareth Southgate’s plans, no longer young, and no longer in demand. Oh, and no longer any good.