Player Watch: Dele Alli

[DaSpurs]

Yep, it's definitely the most frustrating thing, because if you're quick (i assume you are) and you get ahead of someone you know there's little chance of them getting back at you, but then 'Oh, that stride didn't quite work out as normal? Wtf? Oh, that big bastards pulling my shirt again!' haha. Once i got to mens football i knew that it really pissed the opponents off to have a 16 year old lad make a mug of them and they obviously targeted me more as i was an easy target, being only about 11 stone at the time. I saw my friend do it in training and i just thought 'Oh wow, that could work so well for me!' because i was strong enough to keep big men at arms length but i didn't have the size or weight to stop them affecting me once they got close enough to grab hold of my shirt and now i would recommend doing it to any young player in an attacking position because it completely takes away that opportunity once you get good at doing it.

From what i've seen of Alli he has already started the transition to a deeper position over the last year or so as he has got taller and started to fill out more, and in my opinion i can only see Onomah moving in the same direction. I can see him working out as the ideal creative box to box midfielder once he's fully developed, but that's just my opinion!

I was a swimmer my whole life and lifted a good bit in college, so I had good upper body and core strength enough to fend off guys as long as they weren't huge, which made it all the worse because as well as the fast twitch speed in the legs due to the swimming, that prompted all the more shirt-pulling. I also never was good at handing players away as you seemed to figure out, because I had grown up relying on my speed to get away. You do notice though that at the higher levels, the speedier players do seem to do well at doing it just enough not to attract ref attention but be efficient nonetheless.

Yeah Onomah will be very interesting to see what happens. Really hoping he keeps his agility and technical versatility, and then goes on to be a very valuable player in that versatility.

 

[Flobadob]

I was a swimmer my whole life and lifted a good bit in college, so I had good upper body and core strength enough to fend off guys as long as they weren't huge, which made it all the worse because as well as the fast twitch speed in the legs due to the swimming, that prompted all the more shirt-pulling. I also never was good at handing players away as you seemed to figure out, because I had grown up relying on my speed to get away. You do notice though that at the higher levels, the speedier players do seem to do well at doing it just enough not to attract ref attention but be efficient nonetheless.

Yeah Onomah will be very interesting to see what happens. Really hoping he keeps his agility and technical versatility, and then goes on to be a very valuable player in that versatility.

It just reiterates @newbie's point about getting to the mens level of any contact sport and seeing that men have a lot more knowledge of how to take away people's advantage one way or another (by cheating! ). The first thing people noticed about me was my pace. I lost count of the amount of times i heard 'Keep tight to that young lad! He's fucking rapid!' Luckily, i found a way to stop them stopping me by pulling my shirt quite quickly and of course it would have suited me very well to hand people off as i had done it thousands of times while playing Rugby. It really was the perfect technique for me personally, but there's no reason others can't use it to a good affect also.

I don't know about you, but i love a good techincal box to box midfielder that can do a bit of everything and i see us having 3 potentially excellent ones in the future in Bentaleb, Alli and Onomah. Seriously excited by it!

 

[newbie]

A Toure absolutely. His ability to do what he does on the back of power in this modern age of speed and unbelievable technical ability is truly incredible. One of the most underrated players in the world IMO.

Haha sometimes I wonder if I've contracted a bit of PTSD from the last two and a half seasons, and am overreacting to how languid, lethargic, and cumbersome our midfield play has been. Frankly, once Bale was removed from the picture, I thought we were miserably grating to watch until Sherwood took over, and even then we weren't "pleasant." We've improved, but our midfield play still isn't quite where I'd like it to be. And so I'm a bit put off by sizable midfielders as we've stockpiled them in recent years and they've led to such abhorrent sense of urgency and movement from midfield. I adamantly want to see balance returned by seeing us go overboard pushing back towards a dynamic playmaker, someone typically diminutive with a low center of gravity and the consequent ability to maneuver tight spaces and get involved higher up the pitch. Haha miss Modric so badly.

But again, this kid looks like he's got plenty of size, as well as the athleticism. Would love for him to go on to be our Yaya Toure.

I agree Modric and Parker great example, but we did also have huddlestone technically great but built like an oil tanker, in his prime though I loved watching huddlestone his parsing was unbelieveable when he was on form the balls would be in front of the player there to be run on too and so well weighted. I agree you need a balence and Edwards moves like a gazelle he has so much grace be great to see if he can become a spurs legend.

 

[newbie]

I can definitely relate to that, as I used to play a bit of Rugby myself and I loved it, but I was a better footballer so stuck to that instead, but I can remember taking my first big hit from one of the men's first team props in training and it seriously made me think twice about going looking for contact like I did at youth level, I can tell you that! Lol

I'm only just turned 21 so I probably don't even have "man strength" myself, but I can see that it's the only thing that's holding Josh back from being a part of the first team over people like Paulinho. He's definitely a technically better player from what I've seen of both of them, although sometimes I look at Paulinho's technique and really wonder how he mugged us into signing him in the first place. I've not seen a massive amount of him, but it's easy to see that he's way above his age group in talent, so let's hope he can find a way to adapt to mens football fairly quickly. I can remember seeing that one of my team mates had started to literally hand people off once they got close to avoid being out muscled and having your shirt pulled and I tried it myself and now I never go a match without doing it, because the way I see it is, if a defender wants to gain an unfair advantage by pulling my shirt back then I need to take the opportunity to do that away from them and it really works and it's funny that you rarely get called on it for a foul, because technically it's not a legal move in football

Josh has always shown against a lot older player he can handle it he has pace he might if lucky get cameos out wide..

Dembele agility is amazing it's how fast he distributes the ball and I don't think he sees the bigger pitcher his vision is poor un like Modric, Vdv and eriksen, I think Kane also has great vision.

 

[Norwegian Spurs fan]

I was a cross between Zidane and Pirlo in my day.

Pirlo's pace and Zidane's temperament.

In other words a crossdresser

 

[IGSpur]

I've seen roughly the same amount of game time from both of them. Maybe 5 or 6 full matches of Josh and 6 or 7 of Dele Alli (I remember the England youth games more as I'm a big England fan/follower). I'd say from what I've seen of them both Onomah is the better of the two technically overall, but I think Alli has the edge on physical presence both now and in terms of potential. The one thing that really sets them apart from what I've seen is their decision making. Alli is a very mature player for his age and I'd say he chooses the right pass/dribble more often than Onomah.

Me saying all this feels kind of pointless though, if I'm honest, because i feel both of them have roughly the same level of potential. Potential England internationals/Starters for Spurs. It's just at this moment in time I believe Alli is the better player. I'm taking absolutely nothing away from Onomah as I also feel he's a huge talent. He is a year younger after all and has time to improve on the things I feel Alli edges him at, particularly his decision making

Thanks mate, nice post. Like I said I haven't seen more than a coupe of matches of Alli, but you have highlighted a point of Onomah's I agree with. In the past especially I felt sometimes his decision making wrt his passing was poor, however i have definitely noticed it has improved recently, as he begins to take more responsibility especially in the u21s. His dribbling is also improving, but while he is still relatively small he has learned to use his body. Like @newbie said I think he has reached the point where he needs to be challenged more. He seems to have so much more in his locker and I can never tell if he feels he isn't being challenged or if it's just due to his languid style.

Like your Alli points. We have an extra talent in our ranks now. Let's hope they both achieve their potential.

 

[jurgen]

Well if he goes the way of Bostock he could always open a franchise exclusively for sandwich shops on narrow thoroughfares.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Sky Sports News HQ ‏@SkySportsNewsHQ 5m5 minutes ago
BREAKING: MK Dons' Karl Robinson and Dele Alli win League One manager and player of the month. #SSNHQ

 

[Spursidol]

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892...nham-target-dele-alli-the-man-who-embarrassed
Decent article on him by a MK Dons fan, wel worth a read

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Bradford play MK Dons on SS tomorrow, good chance to see him play.

 

[Cavehillspur]

Great article on him from Peter Beagrie, exciting times ahead.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/...be-a-star-of-the-future-for-tottenham-hotspur

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Starting in the no 10 position of a 4231 on the cabbage patch pitch

 

[bomberH]

Does every team in the lower leagues sing the 'everywhere we gooooo' song!?

 

[DaSpurs]

Just scored for Dons!! Side gifted by the goalkeeper on a shit pitch, he got into the right position, megged the keeper for a calm finish.

 

[nedley]

Just scored. Cool finish.

 

[bubble07]

Goal for alli

 

[Sandros Shiny Head]

That pitch

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Very composed.

 

[Huddlestone22]

Was very quiet until the goal but well taken.

 

[Sandros Shiny Head]

should have done better there