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Dele Alli

Pirate55 said:
Son, Kane and Dele all rotating around the CF to provide width and thrust.
The two CMs would give the ball to Kane and Dele , our twin QBs
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You did list 2 DMs so they won't be the most expansive passers or tempo setters. We just about got away with it during the Poch era because we had a genuine top tier playmaker in Eriksen in the side. Even then far too often the ball was moved to slowly and the opposition had a lot of time to react and get into shape. Without an Eriksen I don't see the ball getting to Kane or Ali with much urgency or intricacy. [emoji848]
 
Bishop said:
You did list 2 DMs so they won't be the most expansive passers or tempo setters. We just about got away with it during the Poch era because we had a genuine top tier playmaker in Eriksen in the side. Even then far too often the ball was moved to slowly and the opposition had a lot of time to react and get into shape. Without an Eriksen I don't see the ball getting to Kane or Ali with much urgency or intricacy. [emoji848]
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Because Eriksen was our sole playmaker, we only ever had a plan A. We were too predictable and easily stopped by the best teams. Hence why our record against them was ( and still is) is generally horrific.
 
Pirate55 said:
Because Eriksen was our sole playmaker, we only ever had a plan A. We were too predictable and easily stopped by the best teams. Hence why our record against them was ( and still is) is generally horrific.
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100 agreement I would be worried that we your suggested system we have no playmaker at all and the ball will move even more slowly and and in very straight lines. 2 DMs is going to lead to a LOT of sideways balls in midfield before it gets to Kane or Ali. Also any time we are pressed those 2 DMs are going to really struggle to get the ball out of our half. [emoji848]
 
Some promising glimpses of his old wizardry, but still also a few leftovers of that languid sloppiness we saw too much of under JM.

It will take time, but if he can continue to work that kind of stuff out of his system during the summer we'll all hopefully be singing his song again come the Autumn.
 
Spur of the moment said:
Some promising glimpses of his old wizardry, but still also a few leftovers of that languid sloppiness we saw too much of under JM.

It will take time, but if he can continue to work that kind of stuff out of his system during the summer we'll all hopefully be singing his song again come the Autumn.
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I'm still not sold (I don't buy he's been brilliant, huge improvement but not brilliant)

- Energy is there, press is there, runs are there

But as you said, some sloppiness, odd pass decisions, turnovers ..

Last game will be an interesting test for him (I expect we will manage Villa), if he can turn it on against Leicester for a good 90 minutes would be a great indicator of how much he can contribute next season.
 
L
Raziel said:
I'm still not sold (I don't buy he's been brilliant, huge improvement but not brilliant)

- Energy is there, press is there, runs are there

But as you said, some sloppiness, odd pass decisions, turnovers ..

Last game will be an interesting test for him (I expect we will manage Villa), if he can turn it on against Leicester for a good 90 minutes would be a great indicator of how much he can contribute next season.
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The bloke was targeted and scape-goated by the wan-ker who I knew would fudge us in several ways. Of course it will take time! But if he is given the time, he will show everyone again IMO. He is a special player!
 
Spur of the moment said:
Agree 'that man' (like it!) has a lot to answer for, especially where Dele's concerned, but the latter surely has to shoulder some of the blame?
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Dele has to shoulder most of the blame for me. Sure, Mourinho's tough love tactics clearly didn't work with him but he'd been pretty woeful for the last 18 months of Poch's reign too.

Judging by his post match comments to the BBC it seems the penny has finally dropped. He spoke of wanting to work really hard to get back to where he was and then improve further from there. Let's hope he means it as a fully firing Dele would be a massive boost to us next season.
 
Great stuff yesterday.

We just need to stay patient with him. The nutmeg through to Kane is what Dele is all about. It’s high reward but he will lose the ball just as many times.

I hope people don’t expect the goal output from the Eriksen days. We as a team aren’t as fluid as then, so in turn, Dele won’t be either.
 
Spoonman said:
Dele has to shoulder most of the blame for me. Sure, Mourinho's tough love tactics clearly didn't work with him but he'd been pretty woeful for the last 18 months of Poch's reign too.

Judging by his post match comments to the BBC it seems the penny has finally dropped. He spoke of wanting to work really hard to get back to where he was and then improve further from there. Let's hope he means it as a fully firing Dele would be a massive boost to us next season.
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I diagree with that massively. He wasn't woeful for the last 18 months of Poch's reign. Nor was he woeful for Mourinho's reign. In fact he was probably our best player when Jose first came in. Jose then shifted him to play as number 9 when Kane and Son were out and the club failed him by not getting in a number 9 that January. Even this season Dele has had more good performances than bad. Personally I felt it was clear that Mourinho was trying to force Dele out (perhaps as he knew he needed funds and Dele is probably our third most valuable player and he didn't want to lose Son or Kane). The way that Dele always got picked for the 'punishment' type games but didn't get rewarded after good showings in those indicated that to me.

Thankfully the chairman finally did the decent thing and got rid of Jose and now we can again see that we have a brilliant player in the squad. Some of the key passes he has made in the last few games have been incredible. He also is a natural hard worker on the pitch unlike Ndombele (who has that equal skill and vision but lacks application).
 
Spoonman said:
Dele has to shoulder most of the blame for me. Sure, Mourinho's tough love tactics clearly didn't work with him but he'd been pretty woeful for the last 18 months of Poch's reign too.

Judging by his post match comments to the BBC it seems the penny has finally dropped. He spoke of wanting to work really hard to get back to where he was and then improve further from there. Let's hope he means it as a fully firing Dele would be a massive boost to us next season.
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Dele off the field issues can’t have helped him. But then the club has a duty of care to fix that with him
I don’t agree he has been poor too. He has had some poor games but generally he has been ok when playing and better than a lot of players. Jose did focus on him some times excessively
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Dele off the field issues can’t have helped him. But then the club has a duty of care to fix that with him
I don’t agree he has been poor too. He has had some poor games but generally he has been ok when playing and better than a lot of players. Jose did focus on him some times excessively
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The off the field stuff (assuming true) is a worry. Maybe this period where he has been out of the team, out of the spotlight and not considered to be a global star will stand him in good stead in terms of prioritising his life?

A happy Dele with the shackles taken off on the football pitch is an incredible asset to have. That goal he scored at Old Trafford in Jose's first season for example.... I'm not sure there is another player in the PL who could've scored that goal.

Dele and Ndombele as number 10 options are as good as just about any in the PL. That is assuming Ndombele is considered a 10 by whoever our next manager is. He could actually be the perfect number 8 but needs a huge amount of coaching to get there as his positioning out of possession is sometimes laughably bad.
 
thfcsteff said:
L


The bloke was targeted and scape-goated by the wan-ker who I knew would fudge us in several ways. Of course it will take time! But if he is given the time, he will show everyone again IMO. He is a special player!
Click to expand...
As I’ve mentioned before, dele also had his off the pitch problems at the same time
But we had some games where he played and was better than most and still subbed early... that I didn’t get
 
Finney Is Back said:
The off the field stuff (assuming true) is a worry. Maybe this period where he has been out of the team, out of the spotlight and not considered to be a global star will stand him in good stead in terms of prioritising his life? A happy Dele with the shackles taken off on the football pitch is an incredible asset to have. That goal he scored at Old Trafford in Jose's first season for example. I'm not sure there is another player in the PL who could've scored that goal.
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Have to assume some of it is true (I’ve heard it from too many people and some who are actually credible)
But he also needs support at the end of the day
But I’ve said it before, there were certain games where he was pulled where IMO age was better than most of the players left on. That made no sense to me. That was him being focused on
 
Finney Is Back said:
I diagree with that massively. He wasn't woeful for the last 18 months of Poch's reign. Nor was he woeful for Mourinho's reign. In fact he was probably our best player when Jose first came in. Jose then shifted him to play as number 9 when Kane and Son were out and the club failed him by not getting in a number 9 that January. Even this season Dele has had more good performances than bad. Personally I felt it was clear that Mourinho was trying to force Dele out (perhaps as he knew he needed funds and Dele is probably our third most valuable player and he didn't want to lose Son or Kane). The way that Dele always got picked for the 'punishment' type games but didn't get rewarded after good showings in those indicated that to me.

Thankfully the chairman finally did the decent thing and got rid of Jose and now we can again see that we have a brilliant player in the squad. Some of the key passes he has made in the last few games have been incredible. He also is a natural hard worker on the pitch unlike Ndombele (who has that equal skill and vision but lacks application).
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I agree woeful is harsh. He’s still miles away from where he was 2017 though. The decline started under Poch, he needed a kick up the arse before Jose IMO. The fact that he has openly said he wants to get back to where he was a few years ago is a clear indicator that he acknowledges he’s fallen down the pecking order at both club and country. He was a shoe in for spurs and England, now he’s significantly behind Foden (although most are), Grealish, Mount and Sancho. Not having Jose around will definitely help of course. I think everyone will benefit apart from maybe Dier who Jose loves.
 
Benny_Lad said:
Great stuff yesterday.

We just need to stay patient with him. The nutmeg through to Kane is what Dele is all about. It’s high reward but he will lose the ball just as many times.

I hope people don’t expect the goal output from the Eriksen days. We as a team aren’t as fluid as then, so in turn, Dele won’t be either.
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The goals won’t be so important provided he improves his decision making and overall output. Even at his height I saw him as a player who scored brilliant goals but didn’t have much more to his game but there is no reason why he can’t adapt his game. Look at how many assists Kane gets these days for example. Son has also started to create/provide more and is more than just a streaky player who went off the boil regularly.
 
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