I got a headache watching Dele Alli last night, and the cherry on his little cup cake of a performance was the faux rage routine when he was deservedly hooked off after 66-minutes. A headache smacks of feelings, so let us away with them and introduce some facts in to the conversation. I think I may have cracked the problem that exists with in the Dele Alli fan club.
In a number of Twitter rants, Lucas Moura was held up as having delivered an inferior performance. The real problem with Dele is that the sheer will of his admirers isn’t strong enough to alter reality. Last night the 24-year-old attempted lots, but succeeded few of them.
The point that José Mourinho was making, that appears to have been lost in the mix, is that Dele Lost the ball – something he did on 15 occasions. On one particular occasion, his bizarre aerobatics resulted in a move that cost us a goal. If we look at Lucas Moura’s performance, then we can see he wasn’t great either, but at least he wasn’t the catalyst for a goal.
I wish Dele Alli well, but enough’s enough. Defending him upon what he was trying to do, simply doesn’t cut it. We’re way beyond that level of goodwill.
Aurier loses the ball more than any other player
Er… no he doesn’t.
Aurier loses the ball more than any other player; he gives away more needless/dangerous free kicks that lead to conceding goals; since he has been in the PL only that other clown Luiz has conceded more penalties. He is not especially quick for a full back shown by how rarely he beats his man or gets to the byline. He is most certainly not one of the leagues finest defenders – he’s not even one of Tottenham’s finest defenders. Finally you say he just needs to cut out bonzo moments, making my point that he’s not a top defender because top defenders do not have bonzo moments. No top team would have Aurier in their side. PSG didn’t want him the French league FFS.
Deles drop off could have suttn to do with the gyal he’s seeing. She could be fkin with his mind. They’re good at that🌚
Jose is here for the long term. Levy had tried to sign him for about a decade now. Repeatedly.. He’s already been at the club 18 odd months….. How long is ‘short term’ exactly then? I thought that was a caretaker job. A few months at most until the next season when the proper manager comes in.. Short terms gone already mate..
There are loads of great one footed players though… Messi and Beckham immediately spring to mind… Bale too…. These guys rarely use their weak foots…. They don’t need to when their strong foot is made of pure gold..
He had brilliant games 3 and 4 years ago…. But for two years now he’s been dog 💩
Aurier tops stats like recoveries and tackles. He turns the ball over more than anyone at the club. He’s one of the leagues finest defenders, he just needs to cut out those bonzo moments… He’s good with the ball driving forward too. He’s a player. Strong and fast and aggressive.. His work rate/ethic is high…. Dele has been poor for time.. Then we signed new players, Ndom, Gio, Pierre so now Dele is way down the pecking order. He’s going to struggle for game time.. Now the little chances hes getting in the ropey league and against championship level teams, he has to be showing us what he’s made off… Yet he’s still not producing the goods..
PSG have never won the Champions league!. Dele had the chance to win it with us and he was one of the main bottlers in the middle alongside Tintin and Winks… If you think Dele is the missing piece of their jigsaw then think again… Mbappe, Icardi, Neymar and co… He’d be lucky to make their firsts.
Stats don’t tell the whole story.. Watching the game Lucas worked harder off the ball than dele.. With the ball he looked more dangerous, more direct.. Both had a poor game though really….. Winks often has tidy stats, high percentages etc, but plays safe, sideways and backwards and rarely achieves anything.. Nice stats though… Whats important is what they actually do with and/or without the ball.. Dele used to provide either an assist or a goal pretty much every game, what on earths wrong with the lad?
H had written off Dele when Botch was still gaffer 14 plus months ago! Back then I was still in the Dele fan club. Time has told and H has been proved right.. Dele used to go missing for 60 minutes but always produce moments of magic. The magic dried up ages ago. Similar to De gea sudden demise.. Dele has been poor for two years now, is the club supposed to wait another two years in the hope he gets his 💩 together? No time for hangers on at the top level.
Keep Lucas all day.. It was criminal dropping him for the CL final… After he single handed dragged us through against all the odds.. A hat trick with his weak foot in 25 mins.. He’s a model pro too….. 25 mil he was a bargain.
Deductions, maybes and perhaps without knowing anything. However the funniest part is the bit about a player putting in 30-40 minutes and stating ‘refer to blogs if you don’t remember’. Oh right someone put it in a blog! It must be right then. Fantastic
Yup!
Dele didn’t just start playing badly under Jose. He was poor under Poch and for some considerable time. We’ve actually had two good seasons out of him.
Fans blaming the manager because he has form for this kind of thing are completely missing the above. Dele’s form is nothing new. When he starting regularly before Poch left we were 14th in the league. We are now top 5 still in ALL comps. All pretty much done without him.
Personally… Get rid in Jan and allow Jose to get in a player he rates.
I deduce that he’s done nothing about his limitations from the fact he plays the same as he has done for a few seasons now and teams have worked him out. The flicks are ineffective (maybe 1 in 10 comes off?), his left foot is nonexistent, and when picked, he doesn’t score anymore, which used to be the metric for his contributions to the team.
If you have a player (refer to past blogs if you don’t remember) who only ever put in 30-40 minutes of genuine worthwhile effort where he scored a goal, and take away the goals, you don’t get much of a contribution at all.
As for what changed? Maybe Jose is a terrible man-manager (but most of his former players would disagree – and yes, Luke Shaw might agree, but he’s an exception). Maybe Dele doesn’t like being constantly kicked up his @r$€. Who knows.
I would like him to come good and help the team. I just don’t see how that can happen now. If he’s not particularly great against Antwerp and Stoke, why use him against PL opposition?
Jose is here for the short term selling Dele would be a big mistake. His plan is to rely solely on Kane and Son and it is asking too much for them to do it for a full season. What then, Lucas and Bergwijn are not it, Lo Celso still not yet convinced and that leaves Lamela and Dele. Jose is ok with Serge giving a dumb penalty and picks on Dele for a goal scored after he lost the ball that went all the way to the other goalkeeper and back, where was the defence? Jose better deliver on the trophies as the football now is totally uninspiring.
Well said.
Great chant.
To be fair all you know is what you’ve seen on the documentary. Are we really supposed to believe that Jose has ‘tried everything’ and Dele has done nothing about it? Dele scored 5 goals in his first 8 games under Jose just over a year go and was outstanding (look it up if you don’t remember!). What happened after that and why hasn’t Jose solved the problem? Why has a player who was so good and motivated when Jose arrived changed so much. Jose did the same to Luke Shaw remember. I have no idea what’s going on but we are not good enough to lose match winners like Dele when they are only 24.
What’s wrong with people? We should sell both of them!
Get off the documentary and tell us something in the now. The problem with critizing Alli so publicly is, there are other players in the now that made game losing mistakes and he defended them. Harry Hotspurs has written off Dele Alli after the Everton game so he is stuck with supporting this kind of amateurish behavor by Jose. I get what Harry is saying as far as Alli tricks and flicks playing for a no nonesense manager, but at the same time, that play has so much layers it is not the one to go batty over. God forbid we had go on the offensive to beat Stoke City instead of grinding out the 1-0 win. If we do not punish lesser teams early and often we will have a solid defensive recording finishing 10th in the league. I would worry about sticking Harry Winks in for Sissoko so we can have some ball control even if he is dinking it, and a third player that can score a goal on the odd occasion. All this tantrum by Jose solution is right there. Maybe look to pair Vinicus with Kane. So he can continue to the best #10 in the world will help. Lucas and Bergwjin are not helping when Kane drops, so we lose that focal point in the attack. Jose said it not I, yet Vinicius hardly makes the game day roster.
Gareth is ok but his hair gets in the way.
He was no worse than some others. Didn’t need to be dug out publicly again. It’s not helping anyone.
My guess is … Jose has told Dele stop the flicks and tricks. He lost possession in his own half because of it. I agree other players could’ve done better. The difference between Dele and Aurier is clear as day. Dele is actually a good player. Aurier really isn’t. It comes down to expectation. I’d want and expect more out of Dele because like you say he’s a game changer in the right way. Aurier’s a game changer for the opposite.
I never thought Bale was a good decision to bring back. Like going back to an old GF because she gives good head but everything else about her is past it’s sell by date.
I agree. However Jose is barely picking him even in Europa games. He allows Bale to pick and chose when he plays and to flounce off at half time; he picks Aurier when he continues to make mistakes that directly cost points. Goodness knows what is going on with Ndombele. Last night Jose was annoyed that Dele lost possession and took him off. Why not take Doherty off for being hopelessly out of position or Dier for being sucked out to the left flank and leaving the defence exposed. He’s picking on Dele now and we are close to losing a potential match winner who we desperately need especially with the tactics Jose uses. Dele may continue to be lazy (although this is unlikely) but if Jose is the special one he should have sorted this out by now. Southgate is an idiot so what he does is irrelevant. I just want Jose to get Dele back to where he should be and he’s not doing it in the right way. However Dele needs to get his act together and I thought there were some positive signs last night. He got into dangerous positions twice which is what he used to do. Taking him off last night was senseless.
This. Dele has had obvious limitations for the best part of three seasons but hasn’t done a thing about them. Jose tried everything: reproached him with a smile, told him “time flies” as a father would, and then stopped picking him when he just didn’t get through to him – and fair play to him for that.
He will fit right in with the likes of Neymar at PSG – a lot of showboating and big boy attitudes, but found lacking when it truly matters.
if you watched the Amazon documentary Jose made it quite plain what the problem was. He told Dele you are lazy. He also told him he was concentrating more on his boohoo profile than his football. He also told him that before he knew it his career would be over and only HE had the power to change things.
if Dele was just being left on the sidelines by Jose then yes, maybe he’s the problem. But Southgates also dropped him from the England set up.
Dele is a good player but he’s lost focus. It’s up to him to play himself back into the team.
It looks like Mourinho will get his wish to move him on, and for the team and Dele, it will be for the best, as it cannot be a good atmosphere in the dressing room when one player is getting picked on continually.
Dele is splitting the fan base. Many people have decided it’s all Dele’s fault but Jose does have form for this kind of thing. None of us actually know what has happened (although plenty of people like to think they do). I see a player with real talent who has changed games and won games – which is a very difficult thing to do – being completely marginalised. A good man manager would have sorted this out one way or the other. Not sure Tottenham can afford to let a 24 year old of his quality go. He has had brilliant games for Tottenham and needs (somehow) to get back to his best and completely realise his potential. I see Aurier giving away yet another penalty following on after a pointless free kick against Palace. He is costing Tottenham lots of points (possibly 5 in the Palace and Leicester games). Does he get taken off? Dele got hooked off for his mistake. The ball ended up with their keeper and then a poor side managed to slice us apart and score. That should never happen just because Dele gave the ball away high up the pitch.
Very good points here,Phil. I will keep on eye on his left foot usage, that’s assuming he plays for us again.
Perhaps Dr Frankenstein could somehow swap Erik Lamels’s left foot for Dele’s? Would leave Lamela injured again, but would we notice?
Graham would have loved Kane because of his work rate. Graham did not like fancy players who didn’t put in a shift and he absolutely hated players who were more high profile than him. He couldn’t wait to get Ginola out of the door. He would also have loved Sonny because he doesn’t cause any problems, works hard and does what he’s told
But he did the arm round the shoulder bit. He laid it out plain and simple and Dele’s ignored him.
By that logic he wouldn’t fancy Sonny or one of own would he 🤷🏻♂️
Said it many times and nothings changed. Dele’s a busted flush. He was before Jose got here and now he’s been found out.
Interesting stats H. It would be instructional to know how ‘Sofa Score’ calculate their overall player game grades.
I noticed in comparing Dele and Lucas’s stats, which you highlighted, that they had identical passing percentages (16/20 = 80%), but Dele had 47 to 33 touches, 3 to 1 successful dribbles, 3 to 0 shots (2 on target), 9 to 5 overall duels won, all stats that favoured Dele, with a similar number of lost possessions (15 to 13) and yet Sofa Score gave Lucas a half a point higher overall game grade 6.7 to 6.2.
Those overall scores would appear to be something of a statistical anomaly based upon a comparison of the most meaningful statistics, which does raise some pertinent questions!
Were Dominion voting machines used to calculate Lucas’s score?! Are there any ‘chads’ available for recounting?! Any ‘Stop the Steal’ T-shirts forthcoming from the Dele fan club?!
All joking aside, to the unbiased naked eye, namely mine, I thought Dele had the slightly more impactful game and the heat map, plus most of the relevant major statistics, would appear to suggest that also. Any insight into Sofa Scores scoring system?!
Jose style takes me back to George Graham arsenal George didn’t have much time for talented ayers either he wasn’t keen on ginola
HAhahahahahahhahahahah
Jose is a bit of a minge I think we all know this, his style of management will always polarise. I thought the key to good management was to bring everyone together using varying methods depending on the individual. We all know Dele is a decent player and he does need a bit of a slap but shaming him in this way is just childish and spiteful and it makes jose look like a prick. He will go to PSG under Poch and win the champs league and good luck to him.
What’s really going on is that he has no left foot whatsoever and has done nothing about it since achieving celebrity status. Opponents figured this out a couple of years ago and show him the outside all day long when he tries to come in from his preferred left side of the field, knowing that he is incapable of passing or crossing with his left foot. With the inside covered Alli is frequently reduced to trying flicks inside with his right foot which are not actually signs of his skill as many seem to perceive but are the only option he has left if he wants to move the ball forward. The flicks alllook great if they come off but are also high risk and a big reason he loses possession so often. Jose appears to have tried to remedy this by getting him to play on the right where he is able to pass and cross but Alli doesn’t like this because it limits his opportunities to cut inside and score. If anyone disagrees with me just watch closely and see how often he touches the ball with his left foot in a game. The sad thing is that by fully applying himself in training to at least do the basics with his left Alli could probably have developed into a cornerstone of the Spurs team for years to come but once he started appearing on tv ads with the likes of Messi he thought he had made it and had no need to work hard on resolving his weaknesses. This accounts for why José gave him a verbal kick in the pants over his training ethic, or lack thereof, but all to no avail. Dier showed signs of falling into a similar trap over his lack of concentration but listened to the boss and is now a regular starter. Alli has failed to listen and is now a lost cause.
Are you able to make an actual point?
No Dele Alli fan club, just normal Spurs fans. It’s obsessive Dele haters whose motivations should be under the microscope.
What’s really going on there?