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Dele Alli

Saw some stats bomb charts the other day, basically the year before he was a goalscoring attacking player, and his chart showed that.

This year his chart was that of a CM basically, while the attacking output decreased the number of defensive actions etc went through the roof.

Alli has been excellent this year. He has just been doing a different job, and IMO too many people are judging him against the wrong criteria.
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
Saw some stats bomb charts the other day, basically the year before he was a goalscoring attacking player, and his chart showed that.

This year his chart was that of a CM basically, while the attacking output decreased the number of defensive actions etc went through the roof.

Alli has been excellent this year. He has just been doing a different job, and IMO too many people are judging him against the wrong criteria.
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I think he has been fairly poor this year but he has been playing through injury and doing a job for the team. I cant understand the abuse he gets, if he wasn't at Spurs I would be desperate to sign him.

I think this counts for most of our players, they have not been up to their own high standards but because of injuries they are playing out of position / not fully fit etc. I think it shows character and I expect them to pick up again next year.
 
Thats my point, it really depends on what you are judging.

He has been poor if you expect him to be getting goals and assists and winning us matches (as with the year before).

He has been bloody excellent if you look at him filling gaps, tracking runners, closing spaces and making sure we actually have a midfield. Much like for England in the summer (where he was excellent and also slated for not scoring goals) he has been doing one hell of a job for the team at his own expense.

IMHO its the sort of thing that in the long term will serve him well, give more depth to his game. A bit like when Ledley spent a year in midfield and came back to defence a much better player.
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
Thats my point, it really depends on what you are judging.

He has been poor if you expect him to be getting goals and assists and winning us matches (as with the year before).

He has been bloody excellent if you look at him filling gaps, tracking runners, closing spaces and making sure we actually have a midfield. Much like for England in the summer (where he was excellent and also slated for not scoring goals) he has been doing one hell of a job for the team at his own expense.

IMHO its the sort of thing that in the long term will serve him well, give more depth to his game. A bit like when Ledley spent a year in midfield and came back to defence a much better player.
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I agree with the tracking and running - I was always impressed with his willingness to work for the team. On the ball however he seemed to give the ball away too often, think he was trying to hard to force things when they were not on. I am not sure if the year will benefit him but the amount of abuse he has received really puzzled me, it seemed clear he was putting a shift in for the team when he really needed a break.
 
I think all true Spurs fans know he was playing in midfield, when he is really a second striker...

... and all dingdongheads like Jamie Redknapp say "his numbers have gone down, 2 years ago he scored X and a year ago he scored Y and this year he's only got Z so clearly he's getting worse and needs a move to Liverpool"
 
Denmark Spur said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1138197395106254849
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I don't think anyone doubts that he'll learn from this year. He's tough mentally, and his self-belief has probably never wavered.

But to me, he's been indulged a lot despite his steadily decreasing contribution to our play, both attacking and defensive.

Up until March, he was actually impressive in the sense that the defensive side of his game had improved - he was a pressing machine (Statsbomb did a graph on it), forcing turnovers and crunching into more challenges. That made up for his decreased attacking output.

But in April and May, he just fell off a cliff. And despite the fact that another player stepped up to the plate in his absence (Lucas), he remained a constant starter, despite offering nothing in both an attacking and defensive sense against most of our opponents (Ajax aside, where their naivety gave him space to play). He tried, but the spark just seemed utterly gone from his play - it was laboured, barely functional.

It was unfair that Lucas was left out of the starting lineup in the final. The spot that Dele occupied, to absolutely no effect (he was a ghost the entire game) - that should have gone to Lucas, and the game should have started with Lucas and Son next to Eriksen, all of them behind Kane.

It would have been a reminder to Dele to not take his spot for granted, and a fitting reward for Lucas for basically getting us there in the first place. It could even have sparked the fire in him, to the point where throwing him on in the second half might have meant a better performance from him, as he sought to prove Poch wrong for benching him in the first place.

Instead, we're left with regrets and dreams of what might have been.

Going forward, if I could wish for one thing from Poch, it's that, when he gets a stronger squad, he takes a firmer line with some of the boys. There's nothing wrong with loyalty, but sometimes a bit of tough love now ('you're benched', or 'go home and recover from your damn ankle injuries, Harry') might end up benefiting these lads in the long run.
 
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1138780/Tottenham-Dele-Alli-England-Gareth-Southgate

He explained: “I haven’t scored as many goals or got as many assists, but other parts of my game and the other side of my game, defensively, in possession, not just getting on the end of things and finishing chances, I think I’ve improved on that. So next season, hopefully, it will all come together and I’ll get the goals, assists and keep the other parts of my game in the build-up play.”

Do you look at numbers and do the stats play on your mind?

“Overall in my career, my numbers have been good,” he said. “I’m still young and I’m still improving, so, as a player, I don’t look too much at the stats.

“I think that’s important, not to look too much into it. I’ve set my standards high in my first few seasons in the Premier League and some people think if I’m not scoring or assisting then I’m having a bad game, but that’s not always the case.

“Obviously, I want to be involved in goals and assists, but that’s not the only thing. As a midfielder, you don’t just look at that, you look at all-round game.

“It’s important I do have my own standards and I want to be scoring and assisting, but that’s not everything in my game. Hopefully next season it will all come together.”

A number of niggling injuries restricted him to his lowest-ever tally of just 25 Premier League appearances and Alli has vowed to work hard over the summer so he comes flying out of the traps in August.

“With the injuries I’ve had, I have a schedule from the club and it’s important that I keep ticking over,” he said. “I need a little bit of a break but not too long.

“I’ll put my feet up for a week or so, then back to work and make sure I’m ready for pre-season.”
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
Saw some stats bomb charts the other day, basically the year before he was a goalscoring attacking player, and his chart showed that.

This year his chart was that of a CM basically, while the attacking output decreased the number of defensive actions etc went through the roof.

Alli has been excellent this year. He has just been doing a different job, and IMO too many people are judging him against the wrong criteria.
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This is what we've be saying about Dembele's role in the team and what he contributed. When it was related to him the the narrative was that he didn't score or assist therefore wasn't contributing anything.
 
My only beef with Deli Ali is I don't agree that he should be an automatic starter which for Poch he pretty much has been. There have been looong stretches of poor form where Son has been dropped despite being an overall more effective player. I'm hoping some of the prospective additions we are making ensure that he actually has to perform to gain a starting berth.

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Ali is the sort of player that when he is out of the game you will miss him.

However he does need rest and competition to get him that extra edge to reignite within.

Also it's not his fault since he had pretty much changed his role since his sensational start to his spurs career.
 
I know he's on a lot of people's hit lists for next season, but his movement in the first half against Juve was tremendous in both directions. He made so many runs and half runs on Sunday that pulled the Juventus midfield all over the place and created space for the rest of the team to operate in. He moved into the #10 spot at the right times when Lamela floated out and dropped into the DM position when Winks and Skipp vacated it. He was even the deepest midfielder fending off crosses when our defensive shape changed to a 4141 (stayed as a 4312 for the vast majority).

I know we all want to see him grabbing goals and to be fair, had he had Lamela's role on Sunday he'd likely have been in the same spot to grab it. However I think the work he is doing is going unnoticed and is worth highlighting.
 
Ideally both Alli and Eriksen get to rotate a little this season. Post internationals and over Xmas I think they and Kane suffered a bit.

With strong options in midfield and now more experienced Winks and Skip, Poch should be able to keep them playing at a higher level switching them up.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app
 
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