It can be tough being a young English football star. The lifestyle and riches might be great, but you’re rarely too far away from being hauled over the coals by sections of the press and fans can be fickle too. With a World Cup looming, it appears that Dele Alli has found himself in the crosshairs, and his recent omission from the England starting line-up magnified a resentment that has been bubbling under the surface for a while. Two goals in Tottenham’s 3-1 win against Chelsea was the perfect response, as Tottenham’s attack once again looked fluid despite the lack of Harry Kane.
Alli has developed a reputation as a player who will go down under minimal contact, and that has affected wider perception. Football’s rules determine that physical contact is the necessary precursor to many fouls, yet players who anticipate such play by getting out of the way are often be branded divers. In truth the whole area is grey, and there are far greater sins in football.
With margins often narrow, there's a school of thought that any tactic that creates an edge is fair game, and we are now far enough away from Michael Owen’s well-earned 2002 penalty against Argentina - and pointedly, Mauricio Pochettino - to say that the creative accrual of fouls can accurately be deemed part of England’s football heritage.
Beyond any dislike Alli has fostered exterior to Tottenham’s fan base, mutterings had also started within. Less interested in any edges Alli may look for (and besides, he is Tottenham’s most fouled player by a huge margin) the problem was that he was now perceived to be “out of form”. Southgate overlooking him magnified this perception to the wider world, but Pochettino consistently backed his man and rightly noted his age by way of defence.
The negative headlines centre around a goal rate that has declined precipitously year on year. Between Christmas and season’s end last season he scored 14 goals, including a brace against Chelsea and goals against Arsenal and Manchester City. This time around, prior to the Chelsea game, he had just one goal in the games against the top six, back in October against Liverpool, and six league goals in total.
However, bemoaning a lack of goals fails to take into account subtle differences in Alli’s positioning, as well as natural fluctuations in finishing rates. There are two factors that have primed this: Harry Kane’s transition from a more normal forward to Cristiano Ronaldo levels of shot-taking, and Son Heung-min's assumption of the role as the most forward orientated of the attacking midfielders.
Kane’s bench role against Chelsea meant his fellow attackers filled that space, and Alli’s first goal - featuring a sprint past the defence from a long ball - felt like the type of move that existed precisely because Kane was absent.
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Alli’s evolving balance between schemer and finisher is indicated by an increase in both chances created and assists that in effect covers for the drop in goals, especially if his excellent Champions League contributions are accounted for. Via expected numbers, Alli’s combined involvement in his own shots or created for others is remarkably consistent in all three of the last three seasons. The dip in form is an illusion, perhaps magnified by a lack of defining evocative and emotive moments - like the goals against Chelsea - and in an apparently deeper role, Alli has provided fewer of them this season. His form hadn’t really declined, even if the obvious visibility of his contribution had.
It’s also easy to forget to balance expectation against his age. Of players at top six clubs to have logged more than 1500 Premier League minutes this season, only Joe Gomez, Marcus Rashford and Davinson Sánchez are younger. Alli only turns 22 this month yet has racked up nearly 200 senior professional appearances, a one in three goal record and 23 international caps. It’s a heady trajectory for a player who was plying his trade in League One as recently as 2015.
Alli’s game is not perfect. He can still fritter away possession by trying to beat a man where a pass might be a better option, and his record for England is inferior to that at club level. The debate over picking Jesse Lingard over Alli is perhaps derogatory towards the Manchester United man rather than a reflection on Alli himself. Lingard himself has faced criticism over time and it’s been hard for him to shake off a perception that being a late bloomer denotes that he is in some way an inferior player.
Both men have grown into effective attacking midfield options, each with an eye for goal, and the fact Gareth Southgate has each of them in his squad and available for selection means England have strength in depth here.
Alli remains a rare talent, though, and one with few direct peers. A player equally adept at dropping into central midfield as he is running high up the pitch in a forward role is scarcely found. Already with a shrewd understanding of what the modern game requires for a player to succeed and an attitude that screams “I don’t care what you think”, means that Alli’s ascent towards the top of the world game should continue apace. Erroneous concerns about his form won’t derail that and two goals in a decisive fixture should kill that perception stone dead.
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