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Dele Alli

On the incident itself, it was amusing the way the Fiorentina player looked like he was going to play dead when he hit the ground, then seemingly forgot all about whatever injury he was going to feign, springing to his feet to round on Alli.

Regarding Alli’s actions : there’s a difference between aggression that makes the opposition wary of you as opposed to aggression that the opposition sees as a chance to wind you up to get a reaction. I love that Alli has this edge to his game and with the right coaching and guidance I believe he will learn to temper it and/or learn when to use it to our advantage. I don’t want to see it out of his game altogether. He is young, he is still on a steep learning curve and it may be that he has to learn the lesson the hard way with a red at some point. I just hope that isn’t at a critical time for us, or the lesson will be harder still. But I feel confident he will get the balance right in time.
 
When you're good and you know you're good, it can sometimes be hard to take someone getting the better of you.(see early rooney).

The context is though that very often these are reactions to very small insignificant situations. (like last night or throwing the ball in that players face).

The problem is the penalty could be huge and I would warn Alli, that no matter who he thinks he is, if something happens (ie a red and 3 game suspension) at a critical time then Poch has always struck me as someone that doesn't suffer fools (or idiots) and if he feels you've let him and the team down, don't be surprised if he'll be letting you down for the foreseeable.
 
Alli does this in every game; he nudges his direct opponents in midfield, knocking them off-stride, never giving them a moment, always snapping in and to use the vernacular "getting up in their grill" so they know they're in a battle, so the next time they come to clear the ball or go in for a 50:50 they know he'll be there steaming in.

This is far preferable to the shrinking violets we used to have, that had sublime skills but would be knocked off-stride after 5 minutes by the opposition, and then do their pretty skills in non-threatening areas.

Meanwhile I completely agree that Alli will get a reputation for doing this and will get sent off at some point, costing us points, so he needs to be wiser about some of these challenges.

Last night they were pushing and nudging each other off the ball quite a bit, pretty standard for Italian football. Alli is always up for the fight and I believe overall it benefits him and Spurs as it helps motivate his teammates when they see he is up for it. He did it against Southend as well, he does it every game.
 
Bullet said:
Alli does this in every game; he nudges his direct opponents in midfield, knocking them off-stride, never giving them a moment, always snapping in and to use the vernacular "getting up in their grill" so they know they're in a battle, so the next time they come to clear the ball or go in for a 50:50 they know he'll be there steaming in.

This is far preferable to the shrinking violets we used to have, that had sublime skills but would be knocked off-stride after 5 minutes by the opposition, and then do their pretty skills in non-threatening areas.

Meanwhile I completely agree that Alli will get a reputation for doing this and will get sent off at some point, costing us points, so he needs to be wiser about some of these challenges.

Last night they were pushing and nudging each other off the ball quite a bit, pretty standard for Italian football. Alli is always up for the fight and I believe overall it benefits him and Spurs as it helps motivate his teammates when they see he is up for it. He did it against Southend as well, he does it every game.
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There is a difference between a bit of pushing a shoving and giving somebody a sly kick in the stomach when they're on the floor. The former is typically accepted as part of the game, the latter is typically considered a red card offence. The good thing is that Alli is both young enough and smart enough to improve his decision making here. I love that Alli is aggressive, I love that he wants to look after his team mates, I love that he will give back more than he receives, he just needs to learn where the line is and make sure he stays the right side of it.
 
Alli was lucky to get away with a yellow for sure.
But i'm sure he was also being hit with sly elbows from them as well (i swear i saw that at least once from Toni/Costa? i think).
It's good to know we no longer have shrinking violets who represented the 'Southern softie' tag.

There was an intersting comment made by Palace fan (and general cvnt) journo Neil Ashton where he said in the Palace game Alli showed a will to win and a will to be aggressive in doing so that Cabaye (that sly cvnt) pleaded that "can we not have a game like this?"
Pardew apparently (from another Palace's fan point of view) brought on Mile Jedinek to them take on Alli in an aggressive way, but then he switched to a more skillful mode and then we saw what that led to.:D

Poch will have to work hard to curtail the aggression he encourages from our young side. The more seasoned pros can/will attempt to use it against us and it will be to Poch's credit that we keep our record of not yet having a red card given to our midfield and attacking players (who generally are the instigators of the aggresive play we have). It will also be key that we are able to keep our aggression and also not have the likes of Dier, Alli etc not miss games due to reaching the yellow card limits (much harder).
A big test will be this sunday vs Palace because you KNOW they will not forget the aggression shown by Alli at their place and we know Ade can leave in his studs if in the mood as well.
 
As echoed by many posters above - my point of view is that it is better to have that mean streak/will to win and learn to control it, rather than trying to inject it into an utter pussy (see: most of our midfielders in the last two decades).
 
Footballers should be on both feet not lying on the pitch.
Alli should be getting praise for giving the contemptuous fudger a shoe-ing.
 
There is no doubt it should have been a red card and any Spurs supporter who thinks different should take the Spurs glasses off, if that had been a opposing player who did that to one of our players there would be screaming and frothing from the mouth if the ref had not given a red card.

Now he may learn but he has to stop thinking he can do that and get away with it because a better Ref would have sent him right off.
 
The whole thing tinkles me off. Let's face it, when Scholes, Keane, Viera, Souness, etc did it, they were winners. I think this is simply people telling the little people to sit down and know their place. Poch will take care it. and I guarantee that won't mean he will change his approach much.
 
Pandy said:
As echoed by many posters above - my point of view is that it is better to have that mean streak/will to win and learn to control it, rather than trying to inject it into an utter pussy (see: most of our midfielders in the last two decades).
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thats alli vs lamela.
what about eriksen?
 
thfcsteff said:
The whole thing tinklees me off. Let's face it, when Scholes, Keane, Viera, Souness, etc did it, they were winners. I think this is simply people telling the little people to sit down and know their place. Poch will take care it. and I guarantee that won't mean he will change his approach much.
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Most of the time they did though the ball was there so there's an excuse and a bigger chance of getting away with it. Alli is doing it OFF the pitch, it's not a talking to, it's not a yellow card, it's not just a red card it's a three game ban. It's fudging dumb and it needs to be knocked out him.
 
thfcsteff said:
The whole thing tinklees me off. Let's face it, when Scholes, Keane, Viera, Souness, etc did it, they were winners. I think this is simply people telling the little people to sit down and know their place. Poch will take care it. and I guarantee that won't mean he will change his approach much.
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Pochettino said: "He's a little bit naughty but it's good. I like it. I was like that. I was naughty like him. I was sent off a lot in my career. At Espanyol, in 10 years or 11 years, I had 13 or 14 red cards. It was a record. He played the whole second half with a yellow card. He's clever. like me. Always my first action was a yellow card, and then I played better, I always played better with a yellow card than without a yellow card."

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...e-me-says-tottenham-boss-mauricio-pochettino?
 
glasgowspur said:
Most of the time they did though the ball was there so there's an excuse and a bigger chance of getting away with it. Alli is doing it OFF the pitch, it's not a talking to, it's not a yellow card, it's not just a red card it's a three game ban. It's fudging dumb and it needs to be knocked out him.
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Yeah. Needs to be more cynical and controlled when he does it... But that will come with more experience.
 
JerusalemMan said:
Pochettino said: "He's a little bit naughty but it's good. I like it. I was like that. I was naughty like him. I was sent off a lot in my career. At Espanyol, in 10 years or 11 years, I had 13 or 14 red cards. It was a record. He played the whole second half with a yellow card. He's clever. like me. Always my first action was a yellow card, and then I played better, I always played better with a yellow card than without a yellow card."
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Currently, 99% of us are loving the Poch. So this quote may go unchallenged. But if 99% were not liking the Poch... the above would raise eyebrows. Sounds like he is condoning being sent off and advocating getting a yellow card on your first action. He probably isn't... and yes I do understand what he is trying to say. But that is how it reads. PS - I am loving the Poch.
 
I wonder if there was a little bit of pride as he said that.
Words on the page can read different ways so I would like to see the verbal and non-verbal inflections given along with them.
 
Definitely should have been sent off the other night. I do like that fiery side of his game, you absolutely need at least one or two players that are a little bit dirty/cynical. Vertonghen is very clever at milking challenges and getting opponents into trouble. It's the way football is at the top of the game, all the top teams have a clam in their team, I'm not saying Alli is a clam, but he's got that edge to his game.

I'm surprised that the ref didn't send him off, he booked him so he clearly saw it but bottled it when it came to showing a red. If anything, you would expect to get away with those more in England and get penalised in Europe or at International tournaments, not the other way round.

I don't want Poch to completely remove that fire from him, but he has to stress to Alli to use some common sense also. Saying things like "that's how he plays" when referring to Alli or Rooney, well that is just making excuses for him.

I'm all for Alli giving as good as he gets and putting in strong challenges, but what he did on Thursday made no sense and was totally unprovoked.
 
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