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Dele Alli at Everton

Timberwolf

Well-Known Member
Jan 17, 2008
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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.
Was there ITK that we're signing McNeil? He'd be such a brilliant player for us - truly has a wand of a left foot.

I don't know if I'd want Lo Celso as a pure no. 10 - I think his best position is as the most attacking of a midfield 3 so he can still get stuck in and influence the play deeper when required but also have a bit of licence to get forward and provide goals and assists. I'm being nitpicky though, as you don't get many old fashioned no.10s in the modern game anyway and many roles are more of a hybrid.
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
19,115
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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.

I don’t need to watch Firmino to know that he’s a better player than Alli.

Not sure what relevance that has to my original point though?
 

DEFchenkOE

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2006
10,527
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Coming to think of it, weren't most of his goals in his first couple of seasons from where he was playing off the left?

As a few have mentioned maybe that's where he needs to play if at all. I don't want to see him anywhere near Central midfield when we have Lo Celso, Ndombele, Gedson and Winks who are all much better at retaining possession than him.

So maybe while Kane is out play off either wing with an overlapping full back, or not at all.
 

double0

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
14,423
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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
He hasn't been terrible I don't think Pochittinho or Mourinho would be picking him. Rotation isn't a bad thing in his case to fully recover.
 
D

Deleted member 29446

People really wanna make excuses for him like, give him credit for running or that he played through the pain? Who gives a shit about that?
It was a another terrible performance from Dilly Dally, like it has been for the past 18 months.

But Lucas Lamela and even Son right now is just a bad. Fact is we need a massive rebuild. And only Son of these players are good enough.
 

markiespurs

SC Supporter
Jul 9, 2008
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Watching him yesterday I thought he got brushed off the ball far too easily.

I think he needs to hit the gym and develop some more core strength.
 

Montalbano

Well-Known Member
Jan 29, 2018
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Needs to be playing further forward for me. I'm hoping we adopt the 4-3-3 as I think he can be a big threat in a forward 3 if he's getting service from Gio and Ndombele.
 

eViL

Oliver Skipp's Dad
May 15, 2004
5,840
7,960
I don’t need to watch Firmino to know that he’s a better player than Alli.

Not sure what relevance that has to my original point though?

You said that Dele is a false 9 - I gave you two examples of genuine false 9s to watch and asked you to come back to this thread and tell me that Dele is best in a false 9.

He isn't. He isn't the best choice in ANY position, because he's a one trick pony pretending he has more than one trick.

If he does HAVE to play I'd much rather he just did the same trick, twice a game and STOPPED GIVING THE GODDAMN BALL AWAY.
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
19,115
46,080
You said that Dele is a false 9 - I gave you two examples of genuine false 9s to watch and asked you to come back to this thread and tell me that Dele is best in a false 9.

He isn't. He isn't the best choice in ANY position, because he's a one trick pony pretending he has more than one trick.

If he does HAVE to play I'd much rather he just did the same trick, twice a game and STOPPED GIVING THE GODDAMN BALL AWAY.

No I didn’t. I said if we have to experiment with false 9’s other than Son or Moura top then he’s a better for it that Lamela, which was suggested.

Personally I’d rather just play Son there, but I can see Dele has made you very angry so I think it’s best we just leave it.
 

eViL

Oliver Skipp's Dad
May 15, 2004
5,840
7,960
No I didn’t. I said if we have to experiment with false 9’s other than Son or Moura top then he’s a better for it that Lamela, which was suggested.

Personally I’d rather just play Son there, but I can see Dele has made you very angry so I think it’s best we just leave it.

I'm not angry. I see fans trying to shoehorn Dele into several systems there is no place for him because he simply doesn't contribute the basics of general play OR have a position. 5 years top level experience, 23 and he still doesn't know his own position.
 

dtxspurs

Welcome to the Good Life
Dec 28, 2017
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Coming to think of it, weren't most of his goals in his first couple of seasons from where he was playing off the left?

As a few have mentioned maybe that's where he needs to play if at all. I don't want to see him anywhere near Central midfield when we have Lo Celso, Ndombele, Gedson and Winks who are all much better at retaining possession than him.

So maybe while Kane is out play off either wing with an overlapping full back, or not at all.
Yeah in that 3-4-3 we played under Poch, Son wasn’t a starter and Dele played off the left of Kane. That’s what makes me think he’d be better off in a forward 3. But honestly when at full capacity Son-Kane-Bergwijn will be preferential.
 

SlotBadger

({})?
Jul 24, 2013
13,751
43,099
People really wanna make excuses for him like, give him credit for running or that he played through the pain? Who gives a shit about that?
It was a another terrible performance from Dilly Dally, like it has been for the past 18 months.

But Lucas Lamela and even Son right now is just a bad. Fact is we need a massive rebuild. And only Son of these players are good enough.
Lamela is playing well, Lucas got a great assist yesterday and Son, while I agree he’s playing poorly, has still scored three important goals recently.
 

$hoguN

Well-Known Member
Jul 25, 2005
26,626
34,700
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.
This is a bit of a unfair use of statistics. Dele receives the ball further forward and plays more risky passes.

I agree we need to go 4-3-3 but those statistics don’t back that up as it’s an apples and oranges situation
 

weststandyid

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2004
459
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I have no idea why this thread is so contentious. He's never been involved in a huge amount of build up play, but gets quite a few assists. He's not a central midfielder, doesn't have the strength, composure or discipline to play that role. His ball retention is poor and he's pretty weak.

He needs to play pretty much as high up the pitch as a striker and works best with little positional responsibility. He has moments of genius and is a big game player. The most intelligent player we have in terms of finding and exploiting space, and chips in with quite a few goals.

He's never been one to run a game from the middle of the pitch and don't know why people are expecting him to do so now. He's a forward who plays on the periphery of games, with quite a lot of involvement in goals and opportunities.
 

Primativ

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2017
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I think people need to be careful with the Mourinho clearly rating him angle. Jose is showing him love as he is with some other players in the squad but Mourinho is too good a manager to persevere with such an under performing player who doesn't fit in the system we are trying to play,

It would absolutely make no sense if Alli continues to be picked next season. Maybe Jose is just trying to get the best out of the players he has available so is bigging Alli up to try to get him to deliver? I can't imagine Jose sits there watching Alli in 2019/2020 and goes 'Yes, this player is a key part of my team". He is far too limited and frankly rarely has a good game nowadays.

With Ndombele and GLC clearly able to play at No 10 if required. Plus with Bergwjin joining, and Son and Kane, competition for places is getting tougher and tougher.

I've noticed Jose also subs Alli off quite a lot recently around the 65 minute mark. You rarely do that if you think the player is a key part of your side. I think Alli should be really worried about his future as a regular at spurs. He can't keep being so poor, he talks about being better than he was before, and aiming to surpass his previous levels, but to be honest just getting to 75% of the level he used to be, let alone matching or surpassing it would be a fine thing. He's so far off from that level nowadays. He is a player who does very little but score goals, and when the goals dry up he's shown up for what he is.
 

danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,179
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I have no idea why this thread is so contentious. He's never been involved in a huge amount of build up play, but gets quite a few assists. He's not a central midfielder, doesn't have the strength, composure or discipline to play that role. His ball retention is poor and he's pretty weak.

He needs to play pretty much as high up the pitch as a striker and works best with little positional responsibility. He has moments of genius and is a big game player. The most intelligent player we have in terms of finding and exploiting space, and chips in with quite a few goals.

He's never been one to run a game from the middle of the pitch and don't know why people are expecting him to do so now. He's a forward who plays on the periphery of games, with quite a lot of involvement in goals and opportunities.
Yeah, but why are we talking about Thomas Muller?
 

dontcallme

SC Supporter
Mar 18, 2005
33,987
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I think people need to be careful with the Mourinho clearly rating him angle. Jose is showing him love as he is with some other players in the squad but Mourinho is too good a manager to persevere with such an under performing player who doesn't fit in the system we are trying to play,

It would absolutely make no sense if Alli continues to be picked next season. Maybe Jose is just trying to get the best out of the players he has available so is bigging Alli up to try to get him to deliver? I can't imagine Jose sits there watching Alli in 2019/2020 and goes 'Yes, this player is a key part of my team". He is far too limited and frankly rarely has a good game nowadays.

With Ndombele and GLC clearly able to play at No 10 if required. Plus with Bergwjin joining, and Son and Kane, competition for places is getting tougher and tougher.

I've noticed Jose also subs Alli off quite a lot recently around the 65 minute mark. You rarely do that if you think the player is a key part of your side. I think Alli should be really worried about his future as a regular at spurs. He can't keep being so poor, he talks about being better than he was before, and aiming to surpass his previous levels, but to be honest just getting to 75% of the level he used to be, let alone matching or surpassing it would be a fine thing. He's so far away that level nowadays. He is a player who does very little but score goals, and when the goals dry up he's shown up for what he is.
Fair points. It will take a few windows to get a squad that Jose wants.

Part of me thinks the best result might be for Alli to get a few good goals between now and the end of the season and hope this helps convince a team to put in a sizeable bid for him.
 
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