The Curious Case Of Dele Alli – What Should The Englishman Do To Come Back To His Best
Tottenham Hotspur, the last season’s runners-up, had a slow inception of the new Premier League campaign with only a couple of wins in 5 league outings and are yet to clinch a victory at Wembley (in the league) where they are playing their home games this term due to ongoing renovation work at White Hart Lane. Spurs’ Wembley blues are continuing and the clock is ticking before they slip further down the pecking order in the title chase.
Pochettino, the young Argentine gaffer, is also feeling the heat and has opted to concentrate on the Premier League as well as the prestigious Champions League competition. He, as a result, is undergoing a stern criticism for disrespecting the domestic cup competitions and needs to constitute a winning streak at home like they did during their previous campaign.
A few things are troubling the North London heavyweights since the beginning of this new football campaign. Pochettino is yet to find his best XI and is experimenting too much with formations. However, a few of their stars are yet to replicate the form of last season and Dele Alli, the young Englishman, is one of them.
The 21-year-old England international midfielder netted 22 times last season in 50 appearances for Spurs across all competitions and despite netting twice (against Newcastle United and Burnley before the international break), he has been struggling with his form since the international break.
His last weekend’s performance against the Swans was heavily criticised following a futile scoreless draw where the boss himself admitted to Alli’s rusty run of form in recent weeks. However, Alli did put Tottenham into the 4th round of the Carabao cup with a goal that led Tottenham to a 1-0 win over Barnsley.
The former MK Dons starlet is currently under FIFA investigation following his middle finger salute during England’s international outing against Slovakia and is also out for the first three group league outings in the Champions League (two more left as Tottenham have already played Dortmund in the opener) due to a suspension that he was slapped with last season for his red card in a Europa League encounter. Also, Mino Raiola and Jorge Mendes – two of football’s super agents are competing to sign the promising youngster up and the player is eventually losing his focus, which is impacting his on-field display.
Pochettino handed him a start in Spurs’ League Cup outing against Championship outfit Barnsley in order to provide him more game-time so that he regains his old form and help his team to wipe out their Wembley woes. Alli is immensely talented and must grab these opportunities to sort out his season and step up in Spurs’ title hunt, which they narrowly missed out on last season.