Dele Alli at Everton

[SpursSince1980]

I can see why Dele can spark a lot of debate. On his day, he's a good player and can pull off some cool moves. He tends to thrive in teams that surround him with ball winners. Allowing him to use his instincts to great effect.
Right now though, he looks short on confidence.
Eyes don't lie. Most games he plays, you can see that he slows everything down. He persistently requires three or four touches to make a decision. He is also a turnover machine. You can count on two hands how many times he loses the ball per game these days. This is just as much of a reason we suffer defensively as the keystone cops shenanigans from the back 4. The bottom line is that he puts quite a bit of pressure on the defenders when we are under a lot of pressure, as he really struggles to keep the ball in any meaningful way. And when we do have the ball in transition, he often slows things down, then chooses a bad pass, and then the opposition team quickly breaks in the other direction after we've committed players forward. I see this as a detriment.
Of course, I'd like to think he can evolve. That he can improve. That his confidence comes back. But if I had to make a choice, let's say, of playing either him or Lamela as 10 with a free role, then I'd choose Lamela over him, based on current form. The latter is just more capable at the moment of retaining possession, moving the ball quickly, pressing and making smarter, more incisive passing decisions.
Again, it's not to say that one is better than the other. It is more a case of who is in form and whose current positive attributes outweighs the negatives. And as far as I can see, Dele's negatives right now can sometimes hurt the team.

 

[Cochise]

Nowhere near as bad as some think, but nowhere near as good as he probably thought he was. He threaded that great pass for Moura and worked hard to win the ball back in midfield. Not happy with his sulky reaction to being subbed, but I think that's going to be more to do with how frustrated he was with how our front three worked out.

 

[DJS]

He always sulks when subbed, needs to sort that attitude out as he’s not above being replaced during a match, no-one is.

And especially given his poor form lately.

 

[synththfc]

Been found out. Attitude stinks. Footballing ability stinks. Get rid.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

I think he was pissed off with himself for fucking up his chance to hen he headed over, not sulking about being benched.

 

[muppetman]

I've got no problem whatsoever with him being upset to be subbed. I'd be much more pissed off if he meekly just wandered off and started joking with someone on the bench.

I actually feel like he needs to get that fire in his belly back, starting having a few altercations with the opposition, wind up the fans. He plays best when he's fired up imo.

 

[tobi]

I think he should play upfront until an actual striker is signed.

 

[bubble07]

I think he should play upfront until an actual striker is signed.

Team will then play long balls which all wont be able to do anything with

 

[Nocando]

Whilst i agree that i don't think he is playing well i don't think its an obvious dilemma we can resolve. There are no real players warranting a place in the team and the calls for other players to step in are partially Bourne out of desperation. The calls to get rid are short sighted because if we were to get rid off all our under performing players we wouldn't have a club.

This rings true with the comments that Tanganga is the new king and skipp and Parrott should play. Maybe they wouldn't do any worse but we can't pin too much belief on them.

We have some serious squad issues and i just hope that behind closed doors Mourinho knows this.

 

[tobi]

Team will then play long balls which all wont be able to do anything with

He has better instincts in that position than Moura. Dele as a striker/false 9 would give the defenders more to contend with.

Lucas works hard but he doesn't take up good positions when played as a striker and tends to get in the way.

The long balls happen regardless of whose upfront but happen less when someone in midfield consistently makes themself available to pass to.

 

[BigVic]

Sell.

 

[wirE]

Not seeing any reports on this 'incident' afterwards, so I'm guessing this is water under the bridge...?

 

[punkisback]

Not seeing any reports on this 'incident' afterwards, so I'm guessing this is water under the bridge...?

I think he was just unhappy with himself, came off the pitch quickly and no issues with Maureen.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

The reality is, Dele may thread the odd through ball and get some goals, but his all round contribution is nowhere near enough to warrant us playing a 4231 with him as the no10. It leaves our midfield totally open and he doesn't help control a game. In fact, Kane would be a much better no10 than he is.

I think he is so overrated due to scoring some wonder goals, until Mourinho realises this we won't go anywhere fast. I'm 100% convinced of it. Spends too much time trying to nutmeg people or pull off fancy flicks instead of actually dictating the game.

The only person I can compare him to is Thomas Muller, who was much more consistent with goal scoring to warrant his place in the Bayern team consistently.

We would be much better served dropping him and playing 4-3-3 with Lo Celso and Ndombele in the middle with Winks/Dier holding. Maybe there would be a place for Dele drifting off the left but id prefer Son there.

 

[Timberwolf]

Interestingly in his press conference today Jose said "we only have 4 forwards" then listed Lamela, Lucas, Son and Steve. This implies he sees Alli's (and Lo Celso's) future in more of a withdrawn midfield role, rather than as a second striker or the 9 1/2 position that he played in his first couple of games. I think this also implies we're heading towards a change of system and more of a 4-3-3 as Dele doesn't really work as part of the CM2 pivot in a 4-2-3-1.

Can Alli be a success as part of a midfield 3? Personally I'm not convinced. He's OK in this role and has some good games, but has a tendency to overplay and give the ball away cheaply, along with holding on to it for too long. If we're playing 4-3-3 I'd much rather have Lo Celso and Ndombele operating either side of a holding player rather than shoe-horning in Alli. He'd be a good rotational option but I wouldn't fancy him as a guaranteed starter.

He's a very talented footballer but if there was one big name player who I'd be willing to cash in on and reinvest in the squad (Coutinho style) it would definitely be Alli. For him to be truly effective you need to almost build a team around him and I don't think he offers enough at this level to warrant doing that. In other positions he's fine but hasn't really developed his game enough and seems to start more on reputation than form these days.

 

[Yid-ol]

Interestingly in his press conference today Jose said "we only have 4 forwards" then listed Lamela, Lucas, Son and Steve. This implies he sees Alli's (and Lo Celso's) future in more of a withdrawn midfield role, rather than as a second striker or the 9 1/2 position that he played in his first couple of games. I think this also implies we're heading towards a change of system and more of a 4-3-3 as Dele doesn't really work as part of the CM2 pivot in a 4-2-3-1.

Can Alli be a success as part of a midfield 3? Personally I'm not convinced. He's OK in this role and has some good games, but has a tendency to overplay and give the ball away cheaply, along with holding on to it for too long. If we're playing 4-3-3 I'd much rather have Lo Celso and Ndombele operating either side of a holding player rather than shoe-horning in Alli. He'd be a good rotational option but I wouldn't fancy him as a guaranteed starter.

He's a very talented footballer but if there was one big name player who I'd be willing to cash in on and reinvest in the squad (Coutinho style) it would definitely be Alli. For him to be truly effective you need to almost build a team around him and I don't think he offers enough at this level to warrant doing that. In other positions he's fine but hasn't really developed his game enough and seems to start more on reputation than form these days.

Lamela, Lucas, Son and Steve can all play wide forward and to an extent as the forward. Alli isn't as effective out wide and isn't a replacement for a striker so wouldn't have expected him to be included in that list.

In a 433 he would work in the middle of the 3 in midfield but would need to be played with 2 hard working players who would cover the ground and put tackles in. Would he be in my starting line up if everyone was fit? Probably not.

 

[Timberwolf]

Lamela, Lucas, Son and Steve can all play wide forward and to an extent as the forward. Alli isn't as effective out wide and isn't a replacement for a striker so wouldn't have expected him to be included in that list.

In a 433 he would work in the middle of the 3 in midfield but would need to be played with 2 hard working players who would cover the ground and put tackles in. Would he be in my starting line up if everyone was fit? Probably not.

Actually I hadn't really thought of that, although Lamela is hardly more of a 'forward' than Alli is in that sense either, which made me wonder if he was talking more about the forward positions in general. I suppose Lamela is definitely better as a wide player/forward so that would make sense.

 

[Japhet]

Lamela, Lucas, Son and Steve can all play wide forward and to an extent as the forward. Alli isn't as effective out wide and isn't a replacement for a striker so wouldn't have expected him to be included in that list.

In a 433 he would work in the middle of the 3 in midfield but would need to be played with 2 hard working players who would cover the ground and put tackles in. Would he be in my starting line up if everyone was fit? Probably not.

That's the last place I'd put him. At least when he's further forward we have a bit of time to reset when he needlessly coughs up possession.

 

[Yid-ol]

That's the last place I'd put him. At least when he's further we have a bit of time to reset when he needlessly coughs up possession.

I agree he is better just behind the striker, which is why he would only work with 2 more defensive players who will do all the hard work and let him push up to join the front 3.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

The sooner Mourinho realises we'll be a better team without Alli starting the better.