Dele Alli at Everton

[$hoguN]

The lad needs a rest and also to be played as a wide forward so he can run into balls into the box. Without Kane he is struggling to get into games

 

[LeParisien]

I think we have to accept there was an element of luck to his early performances. This was exacerbated perhaps by defenders not knowing his game.

He will probably not return to the dizzying heights of his first two seasons for any prolonged period of time. But he can still be a player who contributes to the season. More than say Lamela. Double figures for goals and assists combined every year and a tenacious style of play.

 

[allatsea]

Sure his future performances will result in more goals and more assists as we start to play more regularly our most gifted CMs. He had several runs into space yesterday which some less gifted, dare I say less football intelligent, players did not see.

 

[spids]

My thoughts:

He is better as a 2nd forward than a CM.
His 'special power' is getting between CB and FB for diagonal balls and far post crosses.
His 'languid' style makes him look lazier / slower than he is.
He's not playing well but he put a real shift in and played through the pain barrier yesterday.
With his form and Jose's tactics we'd be a better team with Ndombele playing as the third CM rather than him.
If he gets back for 2016-2018 form he will be one of the best players in the world.

 

[Spartanspurs]

That is the counter argument of an 8 year old.

Alright, how about the fact that Poch (our best manager of the last few decades) and Mourinho both clearly rate him very highly?

But ultimately given football is about goals, why can his goal contributions be dismissed so easily?

 

[nailsy]

Sorry but that's BS. You don't continue playing if the pain is effecting your game and your team still has subs available - you only do that if all subs have been used.

Anyway I think it's just an excuse for another dire performance. He didn't help anyone by staying on and we had several options on the bench.

Players can't win can they? We've got fans telling Ndombele that he needs to man up and play through the pain, and we've got others telling Dele he should go off if the pain is effecting their game.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

He's massively regressed from the first 1-2 seasons here. Maybe he needs a move to regain his mojo.

 

[double0]

How are his ball retention stats?

His not the finished article!!

 

[SpartanSpur]

Can't knock this lad's effort and contribution yesterday playing through the pain barrier and sticking to the gameplan. I agree with others in that he needs a rest but also that I'd rather see Ndombele as the 3rd CM. That said if this lopsided FB scenario continues I think he could be an interesting option at LF, attacking spaces in the box for Aurier's crosses. Can also put a defensive shift in to cover Davies/Tanganga.

Would allow Son to play as the ST (I think he has better movement than Moura up there) and then let Bergwijn/Moura fight it out for the RF position. He is going to have to up his versatility when we have a fully fit squad because there are arguably better specialists in all the positions he plays, with the exception of second striker which we hardly play.

 

[SlotBadger]

I think fans are conveniently forgetting the amount of times Lamela also hangs on the the ball too long.

I think most people are aware Lamela is guilty of it on occasions, although not as frequently as Dele.

Let's not forget Lucas and Son who simply run directly at opposition players. At least you could argue Dele and Lamela are looking for a pass when being caught dawdling.

My gripe with Dele from yesterday's game was his erratic passing:

Player	Passes	Completion
Dele	16	50%
Bergwijn	17	71%
Son	21	71%
Lamela	12	100%

 

[dagraham]

I think most people are aware Lamela is guilty of it on occasions, although not as frequently as Dele.

Let's not forget Lucas and Son who simply run directly at opposition players. At least you could argue Dele and Lamela are looking for a pass when being caught dawdling.

My gripe with Dele from yesterday's game was his erratic passing:

Player	Passes	Completion
Dele	16	50%
Bergwijn	17	71%
Son	21	71%
Lamela	12	100%

Yeah I don’t disagree with that. My post was more in response to the idea of playing Lamela as a false 9 instead of Dele. Dele is far more suited to that role imo.

 

[yusrisafri]

So you need your brother to tell you everything?

I guess no one understood the dry humour then, judging from the wtf emojis ??

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

His passing, technical ability and ball retention qualities are just so poor compared to our other central players.

Yesterday he had 50% pass completion from 16 passes, whilst Winks had 77.5% completion from 40 passes and Lo Celso had 85.7% completion from 49 passes. Just night and day.

His lack of these qualities means he has to be used further forward, either as a second striker or wider forward.

For the sake of the TEAM we have to play a 3 man midfield moving forward imo, it suits the majority of our squad. Therefore the only position Alli can play is as a wide forward but to do that he needs to re-work his game a lot.

 

[Ossie85]

Dele Alli is 23. Since Mourinho's arrival scored 6 and assisted 3. His stats are incredible since coming to Spurs. Voted young footballer twice in his time at Spurs. Has suffered serious hamstring.

We haven't seen his best yet and he is much more flexible than what people give him credit for.

That's in the past though. At the moment he's terrible. I don't know if it's because he's tired or what, but he needs to be dropped. Hopefully he will slowly regain his form

 

[dagraham]

That's in the past though. At the moment he's terrible. I don't know if it's because he's tired or what, but he needs to be dropped. Hopefully he will slowly regain his form

Even though he is frustrating me, Dele is quite rightly not going to be dropped while we make do without a CF. We need all the goal threat we can muster from other positions.

 

[Kiedis]

His passing, technical ability and ball retention qualities are just so poor compared to our other central players.

Yesterday he had 50% pass completion from 16 passes, whilst Winks had 77.5% completion from 40 passes and Lo Celso had 85.7% completion from 49 passes. Just night and day.

His lack of these qualities means he has to be used further forward, either as a second striker or wider forward.

For the sake of the TEAM we have to play a 3 man midfield moving forward imo, it suits the majority of our squad. Therefore the only position Alli can play is as a wide forward but to do that he needs to re-work his game a lot.

For context, where was his turnovers? The gut feeling tells me that they often occured in the final third in situation where he'd try more risky passes.

As for his general play, in our current predicament, he's one of few players that will make aggressive and threatening runs into the box and into space. If a part of our game is to get Aurier in crossing positions, we need players on the pitch who are trying to get on the end of said crosses.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

For context, where was his turnovers? The gut feeling tells me that they often occured in the final third in situation where he'd try more risky passes.

As for his general play, in our current predicament, he's one of few players that will make aggressive and threatening runs into the box and into space. If a part of our game is to get Aurier in crossing positions, we need players on the pitch who are trying to get on the end of said crosses.

He lost the ball a lot in central areas of the pitch with sloppy passes, which is something he does regularly.

I'm not disagreeing with your second comment and that's why I suggested that if he's going to fit into the team anywhere he's got to do it as a wide forward (or false 9), not as part of the CM/CAM area. We need to utilise a 3 man midfield and he can't be part of that if we want it to be effective.

 

[Timberwolf]

His passing, technical ability and ball retention qualities are just so poor compared to our other central players.

Yesterday he had 50% pass completion from 16 passes, whilst Winks had 77.5% completion from 40 passes and Lo Celso had 85.7% completion from 49 passes. Just night and day.

His lack of these qualities means he has to be used further forward, either as a second striker or wider forward.

For the sake of the TEAM we have to play a 3 man midfield moving forward imo, it suits the majority of our squad. Therefore the only position Alli can play is as a wide forward but to do that he needs to re-work his game a lot.

After 60-70 minutes of conceding possession easily it was actually almost odd to witness us retain the ball and work it forward in a controlled, fluid passing move once Ndombele came on. Like "Oh, if you actually have a few players who are comfortable under pressure and can pick a pass it IS possible to not give Man City the ball back straight away".

Dele is a very talented footballer who is capable of magical moments but I really think that our best 11 next season won't have him in it. I hope Jose recognises this rather than feeling he has to be a guaranteed starter and sacrificing our entire way of playing just to fit him into the side.

 

[daryl hannah]

I'd be really interested to see where Dele fits in once we have Eze and McNeil. If we go for someone like Soumaré in summer then surely Lo Celso pops into the 10? I dunno. I'm sure someone, somewhere has it all figured out, but NDombele, Celso and Soumaré would all surely be too good not to be starting.

Interestingly, José really seems to rate Dele.

 

[eViL]

Whilst not as lowly as Watford, who would take him. United, City were likely destinations but they are stocked. As are Liverpool.

United and City both need players in the Summer. If you think Pep would think twice about bringing in a player that gives away possession 50% of the time you're crazy. United already have Jesse Lingard for that.

His 'special power' is getting between CB and FB for diagonal balls and far post crosses.

But rather than play to his 'special power' insists on coming deep, miscontrolling and dawdling on the ball and giving away possession cheaply.
He thinks he's a baller, when actually; he's actually just a goalscorer. If he realised this and played to his strength; there'd be less frustration from me.

At least you could argue Dele and Lamela are looking for a pass when being caught dawdling.

Dele telegraphs everything he tried to 'create'. I don't disagree that Lamela does the same, but at least Lamela puts some measured aggression into his play and sprints with the ball. Dele is like a statue in possession (by choice, not because he can't run).

My post was more in response to the idea of playing Lamela as a false 9 instead of Dele. Dele is far more suited to that role imo.

Firmino is a false 9. You could argue Kane is to a point. Go and watch Bobby Firmino's current contribution and tell me what Dele's role is then. He's a ghost.