Dele Alli at Everton

[Haddock]

I watched a 16/17 compilation of Dele. He has never been lightning fast but in those clips he drives forward with the ball with such intensity. Whenever he's on the ball he's so determined to get it forward. The way he did things with the balls at his feet was infinitely faster back then than the ponderous-Dele of late.

It's also telling how much a player like Dele benefited from playing in a team that really pressed their opponents all over the pitch. We used to create so many chances from breaking up play high up the pitch and then you had all of Son, Kane, Eriksen, Alli running around like mad men on the opponent's half. As soon as we broke up play there were already 3-4 players running into space. Dele's style of play, the way he can sniff out attacking runs and occupy space was truly perfect in that team.

Also, the amount of goals Eriksen created for Alli is quite staggering, more than half of those goals in 16/17 seem to be Eriksen hitting an inch-perfect cross for Dele to attack.

Rewatching "The old Dele" highlighted why he'll never be a Mourinho player. He needs a team that really drives forward with the ball, that actively and relentlessly make things awkward for their opponents, he also needs to have players around him that can deliver a cross. I mean, that isn't the Spurs of 2021 with Mourinho.

I'm not trying to derail the blame from Dele. He's been in a downward spiral for several seasons and he was on the decline before Mourinho. Even under Pochettino - when the squad for some reason couldn't play the press-game anymore - Dele declined massively. It really does feel like things stopped working for him and instead of trying to understand why he focused on other things than football. I mean, he's obviously a very talented footballer. With his stature and natural ball skills and he could easily become a competent CM, if he took the time and effort to develop in that position. But he never sought that challenge. Instead, he waited for things to fall into place again and they never did.

 

[sausage]

Will be sad to see him go but sounds like the situation is beyond repair with him and Mourinho. Will be interesting to hear Ali’s account when he writes a book in the coming years.

Doesn't strike me as that kind of person tbh. For pedantry sake, also 'Alli' but even then Dele, I guess.

 

[Stamford]

He's going to throw his career away because of his attitude

 

[SamR]

I know Dele has come across a bit childish at times, but i haven't really noticed a lack of effort when he plays? If he has been poor, the rest of the team have usually been poor too.

I guess he could be prancing around training and not caring, but i haven't seen any news on that.

He just strikes me as someone frustrated to not be getting a look in, letting out a few mild outbursts when that boils up and wanting to get game time to help his England team prospects.

If Jose doesn't fancy him, Daniel should let him get game time elsewhere and cash in. We can't as a club bemoan players for wanting to leave and then expect players to stay who aren't fancied.

 

[Wig]

Very true. I guess if the last summer hadn’t happened during the financial restraints of the pandemic we might of pushed the button on Eze, for example, after tracking him for so long.

It's not just our decision. Whilst we dithered on whether to push the button for Eze, the player himself would want to go somewhere where he has more chance of getting regular minutes to continue his development. He may have found it harder or had less assurances he would slot straight into the first team compared to Palace.

 

[spursfan77]

It's not just our decision. Whilst we dithered on whether to push the button for Eze, the player himself would want to go somewhere where he has more chance of getting regular minutes to continue his development. He may have found it harder or had less assurances he would slot straight into the first team compared to Palace.

He had to wait a good month for his chance there. Had we signed him I suspect with the number of games we had early doors he’d of got more match time with us.

 

[SuperPav10]

Our Daniel's playing a risky old game.

1. Not backing Jose's instincts on this won't bode well for their relationship, especially if they're thinking of life after Jose (which seems mad in itself.)
2. There's no guarantee Dele will find his feet or form again - he might do well in a PSG side that can win most games without breaking a sweat, but it's not an indicator that he'll get back to it in the EPL.
3. And he runs the risk of letting a player's value dwindle away (again). Of which he'll probably blame Jose for having not used him much.

I can't see the sense in backing one player over a manager, ever. It'll undermine Jose and will give the dressing room all the power.

 

[yido_number1]

Our Daniel's playing a risky old game.

1. Not backing Jose's instincts on this won't bode well for their relationship, especially if they're thinking of life after Jose (which seems mad in itself.)
2. There's no guarantee Dele will find his feet or form again - he might do well in a PSG side that can win most games without breaking a sweat, but it's not an indicator that he'll get back to it in the EPL.
3. And he runs the risk of letting a player's value dwindle away (again). Of which he'll probably blame Jose for having not used him much.

I can't see the sense in backing one player over a manager, ever. It'll undermine Jose and will give the dressing room all the power.

Must be a fine balance between selling a player for the figure that represents value and getting rid of a player at any cost because the manager doesn't want him. Especially when that player was probably the hottest prospect in English football at one point. I think we'll find out how committed to Mourinho is over this one.

 

[Cochise]

If we're so worried about the English thing, bit of a farce we let KWP go and passed up Watkins or Grealish

Gutted we missed out on Watkins although it sounds like he knew he'd get more football at Villa and that swayed it somewhat.

 

[The Opinionated Lurker]

I might not love Jose’s style of play but I feel there’s few managers like him around left with both his eye for talent but also the ability to tell them when they’re coasting on their talent. Where some managers might just let them keep going out there and hoping they figure it out, Jose will make it clear they’re below par by keeping them out the side and some players can handle it and overcome it (Ndombele) and some can’t (Pogba), but I think more often than not he’s right.

Yes KDB and Salah exist there’s no manager without those stories. Wenger made a habit of telling the media damn near every year another great player he let go before they figured it out. Remember the uproar at Real when Jose rightly deemed Casillas as past it? Jose goes in 2013, Casillas gets a chance again and within two years of him leaving, Casillas is gone and Real were a fax machine away from De Gea.

 

[Yid121]

I watched a 16/17 compilation of Dele. He has never been lightning fast but in those clips he drives forward with the ball with such intensity. Whenever he's on the ball he's so determined to get it forward. The way he did things with the balls at his feet was infinitely faster back then than the ponderous-Dele of late.

It's also telling how much a player like Dele benefited from playing in a team that really pressed their opponents all over the pitch. We used to create so many chances from breaking up play high up the pitch and then you had all of Son, Kane, Eriksen, Alli running around like mad men on the opponent's half. As soon as we broke up play there were already 3-4 players running into space. Dele's style of play, the way he can sniff out attacking runs and occupy space was truly perfect in that team.

Also, the amount of goals Eriksen created for Alli is quite staggering, more than half of those goals in 16/17 seem to be Eriksen hitting an inch-perfect cross for Dele to attack.

Rewatching "The old Dele" highlighted why he'll never be a Mourinho player. He needs a team that really drives forward with the ball, that actively and relentlessly make things awkward for their opponents, he also needs to have players around him that can deliver a cross. I mean, that isn't the Spurs of 2021 with Mourinho.

I'm not trying to derail the blame from Dele. He's been in a downward spiral for several seasons and he was on the decline before Mourinho. Even under Pochettino - when the squad for some reason couldn't play the press-game anymore - Dele declined massively. It really does feel like things stopped working for him and instead of trying to understand why he focused on other things than football. I mean, he's obviously a very talented footballer. With his stature and natural ball skills and he could easily become a competent CM, if he took the time and effort to develop in that position. But he never sought that challenge. Instead, he waited for things to fall into place again and they never did.

Very good piece, which in my view strengthens the need to get rid.

 

[Yid121]

I might not love Jose’s style of play but I feel there’s few managers like him around left with both his eye for talent but also the ability to tell them when they’re coasting on their talent. Where some managers might just let them keep going out there and hoping they figure it out, Jose will make it clear they’re below par by keeping them out the side and some players can handle it and overcome it (Ndombele) and some can’t (Pogba), but I think more often than not he’s right.

Yes KDB and Salah exist there’s no manager without those stories. Wenger made a habit of telling the media damn near every year another great player he let go before they figured it out. Remember the uproar at Real when Jose rightly deemed Casillas as past it? Jose goes in 2013, Casillas gets a chance again and within two years of him leaving, Casillas is gone and Real were a fax machine away from De Gea.

Agreed. Jose got asked about this. He told Chelsea to sign Salah having played against him when he was in the Basel team as he apparently obsessed over him as a player. They had peak Willian and Hazard and Salah was very demanding of gametime so they chose to loan him to serie A for his development.

Chelsea then sold him after he left.

I think that more helps demonstrate Jose can spot a good attacking player rather than him getting rid of any creative players a team has which people would probably argue using salah.

 

[SuperPav10]

Must be a fine balance between selling a player for the figure that represents value and getting rid of a player at any cost because the manager doesn't want him. Especially when that player was probably the hottest prospect in English football at one point. I think we'll find out how committed to Mourinho is over this one.

Yea, of course. But asking for 70m for someone who's been out of form for around 18 months (under two very different managers) seems silly.

If he doesn't get games/ find form, that value will just plummet.

Sometimes I do wish we'd bite the bullet and sell players who aren't 100% committed at their 'peak' in order to reinvest. We did it with Walker, we just didn't buy the right player.

I mean, Rose should have went for 45m once. Eriksen 12 months earlier when it was apparent he was stalling on a contract renewal. Toby arguably should have gone for a decent fee when he fell out with Poch.

To our detriment, I feel like we're a little *too* loyal or sentimental sometimes.

Or just plain greedy.

 

[yido_number1]

Yea, of course. But asking for 70m for someone who's been out of form for around 18 months (under two very different managers) seems silly.

If he doesn't get games/ find form, that value will just plummet.

Sometimes I do wish we'd bite the bullet and sell players who aren't 100% committed at their 'peak' in order to reinvest. We did it with Walker, we just didn't buy the right player.

I mean, Rose should have went for 45m once. Eriksen 12 months earlier when it was apparent he was stalling on a contract renewal. Toby arguably should have gone for a decent fee when he fell out with Poch.

To our detriment, I feel like we're a little *too* loyal or sentimental sometimes.

Or just plain greedy.

Well to be fair you don't progress or win the league when you sell all your players at their peak. If you want to win transfer top trumps that's fine but how many teams improve by selling their best players?

I don't think anyone is suggesting we need £70m for Dele. I think Dragon said above £50 which when you consider what players like Iwobi and Siggurdson went for is about right.

 

[Milnebase]

Gutted we missed out on Watkins although it sounds like he knew he'd get more football at Villa and that swayed it somewhat.

Not to mention that price tag!

 

[the yid]

To me loan him to PSG for 6 months. We aint gonna play him so get rid for 6 months in the summer if Jose wins fuckall he'll be gone anyway. Loan in Eriksen for 6 months if Jose fancies him and if we sell Alli in summer sign Sabitzer

 

[dtxspurs]

not that hard nor expensive if we sign young talents 3-4 years in advance. it looks hard and expensive now as we lost a generation of talents when poch was in charge. luckily we still have parrott, skipp, white, cirkin, scarlett, devine etc to come through
also there has been bargains for HG talents in the market but we f**ked up most of them (maddison, grealish)

Bingo! Just shop for the top talents in the Championship. I’ve been saying for a while you should buy 1 or 2 of the best young British talents there every year. Rodon looks good, Eze is class, Grealish, Maddison, Watkins, etc. There’s good players that come up all the time.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Agree that Salah and KDB are poor examples of what is happening here and that Pogba and Shaw are better examples.

Disagree with everything else. It has little to do with Jose wanting a scapegoat. It's about demanding everything from the team as a whole and the 22+ individuals that make up the team. Everyone has a role to play, some play a larger role. Some individuals respond, Ndombele, and others don't, Pogba, Shaw and Dele.

I don't think Jose has been proven wrong with his assessments of those four players.

Based on his one-on-one meeting with Dele in AoN, it's pretty clear what Jose expects from the player and how high he believes his potential is. He leaned heavily on Dele from the start. Jose coveted him - "Sir Alex said buy Dele", he challenged him - "are you Dele or Dele's brother", he praised him - "that goal was because of you Dele" (following his sliding effort to keep the ball in play against West Ham leading to the Son goal) and he turned to him to replace Kane and Son but as Jose implemented his system, his trust in Dele faded.

It's clear by Jose's comments that he doesn't believe Dele is giving his all and in turn wasting his potential. I'm also 100% positive that Jose would love for Dele to turn it around, just like Ndombele. Jose isn't pushing him because he's a big meanie, he's trying to push every button so that Dele sees what Dele can be.

Dele just needs to take ownership for his own actions.

spot on 1,000%

 

[Haddock]

Bingo! Just shop for the top talents in the Championship. I’ve been saying for a while you should buy 1 or 2 of the best young British talents there every year. Rodon looks good, Eze is class, Grealish, Maddison, Watkins, etc. There’s good players that come up all the time.

Yeah, but our opponents are probably identifying the exact same players and are doing their best to sign them, and the player needs to fit into the squad, not to mention what the players themselves want, and their agents, etc.

That said I agree with the overall sentiment. We should have a more clear vision of how to bring the talent in and how to develop them. It does feel like we're more opportunistic than strategic in transfers generally.

 

[dtxspurs]

Yeah, but our opponents are probably identifying the exact same players and are doing their best to sign them, and the player needs to fit into the squad, not to mention what the players themselves want, and their agents, etc.

That said I agree with the overall sentiment. We should have a more clear vision of how to bring the talent in and how to develop them. It does feel like we're more opportunistic than strategic in transfers generally.

You rarely see City, Liverpool, United, Chelsea & Arsenal dipping into that pool of talent. Just at that list we had the opportunity to sign Grealish, bought Rodon, Eze seemed like a deal to be had if we really wanted it, same with Watkins. Maddison was really the only one it didn't seem like we could have done.