The Dele Alli who marshalled England’s midfield against Nigeria on Saturday is something much closer to what Tottenham Hotpsur envisaged when he arrived in the Premier League from MK Dons three summers ago.
Such has been the Three Lions star’s rise since though, and such has been his consistency in directly influencing the scoreline with goals and assists, that Alli has become more of a forward for Spurs, someone who plays off Harry Kane by exploiting the space his movement leaves behind.
But often, when Alli hasn’t been given that license to float around the final third as Kane’s support striker, he’s struggled to make the same impact. Upon being asked about why his form hasn’t been quite as spectacular this season a few months ago, Alli explained that while he’s a natural at peeling from the left-hand side into the channel where his right foot can create chaos, he’s not as effective going the other way.
That’s why Christian Eriksen’s become the creative metronome of Tottenham’s attack by taking up more central areas, and that’s why Alli’s form hasn’t been what it was in 2016/17 when Mauricio Pochettino regularly fielded him on the left of a 3-4-3.
Accordingly, amid all the debate over Alli’s form this season compared to previous campaigns, it’s become easy to forget what the former League One sensation truly is. Yes, he’s a fantastic goalscorer when in great form, but he arrived at Tottenham as a fantastic box-to-box midfielder, and that’s eventually where he’ll end up playing his best football.
Alli’s performance for England on Saturday, operating as part of the midfield that can join the attack rather than the other way around, truly highlighted that as Gareth Southgate employed him alongside Jesse Lingard just in front of Eric Dier.
In that subtle yet important change of position, different qualities to Alli’s game really came to the fore – particularly his ability to make opportunities for others. He created the most chances of any England player, four, and tellingly of his influence in all-round play had the most touches of any England player as well.
But there was a grittiness to Alli’s performance too, epitomised by him making three tackles, three clearances and one block, and that ability to combine both offensive and defensive contributions with energetic mobility is what makes the 22-year-old such an exciting prospect in the box-to-box role.
“The intelligence of his runs —we didn’t always find him. In fact we had to keep encouraging him to make those runs because the danger is you get disappointed at not being found and stop doing it. His goalscoring record for a player his age is outstanding.
“At the moment with England he hasn’t found that number of goals but I’m sure he will because he smells the opportunities. If we play as we did today [Saturday], and create the number of chances we did, getting the ball in those areas, those lads who were in those positions will score goals.”
The ultimate question is inevitably whether Alli – who Transfermarkt value at £90million – can provide a similar tally of goals when deployed deeper; even if he makes a larger impact on games in less direct ways, he’ll always be judged on his output after those incredibly potent first few seasons in north London.
But at least within the context of the England team, Southgate thinks it’s just a matter of time before team-mates begin to exploit the runs he makes from a deeper starting point, creating a source of goals that will ease the burden on Kane.
And should England solve that problem in time for the World Cup, it will come at an interesting moment for Tottenham Hotspur. Mousa Dembele’s future is yet to be resolved having entered the final twelve months of his contract but with the Belgium international’s agent insisting no decision will be made until the tournament in Russia, Spurs are left in something of a transfer limbo – do they need to replace a midfielder who Pochettino compared to Diego Maradonna a few months ago, or can they count on him for at least another season?
Perhaps though, Tottenham already have the perfect replacement for Dembele in Alli. The England international is by no means the same style of player, but the Belgian’s departure will open up a gap in the engine room for Alli to drop into and showcase his impact as a box-to-box. That, in turn, will allow a space further forward for one of Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela to fill.
So, Tottenham fans, do you want to see Pochettino play Alli deeper next season to fill Dembele’s void? Let us know by voting below…
