Eric blows smoke up Dele's backside.. | Vital Football

Eric blows smoke up Dele's backside..

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Eric Dier explains what most people don't realise about Dele Alli with behind the scenes info
The Tottenham centre-back has been speaking about his team-mate after a rare start in Sunday's Premier League victory against Sheffield United

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By
Alasdair GoldTottenham Hotspur correspondent
  • 22:30, 3 MAY 2021
Spurs
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Dele Alli enjoyed himself during only his third Premier League start of the season


Eric Dier believes that most people do not realise just how hard Dele Alli works off the ball after the 25-year-old returned to the Tottenham team this week.

Alli made only his third Premier League start of the season on Sunday in Tottenham's 4-0 victory against Sheffield United.

He got 78 minutes under his belt in a busy performance and interim head coach Ryan Mason said the midfielder had earned the start by standing out in training in the preceding week.

"I thought he played really well," said Dier. "From the inside I can tell you he’s been working really hard and trained really well, and against Sheffield United he put that on the pitch.

"Everyone knows his qualities, but I think he also has a lot of qualities which go unnoticed. The amount of second balls he wins, the amount he runs for the team and presses.

"He’s always attached to the game, it’s like he’s on a string to the ball. He is always attached to the game in every moment and that’s a great quality to have."


Alli was also showing off a new look with a longer hairstyle and Dier admitted: "It's been in the pipeline for a while. He came out with it last week and I think he looks good."

Gareth Bale took the headlines with an emphatic hat-trick on Sunday. Son Heung-min added a wonderful curling effort for Tottenham's fourth goal and Dier admitted it was great to see Bale, Son, Alli and Harry Kane all in the same team together.


"Obviously it’s a very nice feeling. It’s a luxury to play behind them and with all of their qualities I think they complement each other really well," he said.

"They each have slightly different qualities and it’s a pleasure to play with them.

"There is a lot of firepower there and a lot to back it up - their history, their goals and assists, and what they have done in the game.

"I think we have a lot of quality up front, even off the bench. We have a lot of quality in attack that no opposition would like to come up against. That includes Lucas Moura, Steven Bergwijn, Erik Lamela and the others as well.

"We have a lot of options and they are all options nobody would like to play against."
 
He did play well and then faded - perhaps not surprisingly so.

But to achieve the accolades he once did, he'll need to step it up in our last four games and keep at a higher level next season.

Calls for a return to the England line-up are in my view utterly premature.
 
The one good thing about Dele this year is that his body has had a good rest. With COVID lockdowns and the unfair treatment he got from Jose, he's had minimal football. He could now test his body through the May fixtures and then get another short period of rest followed by strength / stamina building for the new season.

His playing style is likely to be more attractive to our next manager, just like it is with Ryan. Then we know whether we've got an even improved Dele in the next chapter of his career. His game still needs refinement.

As for England, it would take a series of injuries to other players for the Euros to happen. It would be nice to see the England manager at a couple of our games though, especially the last two. Have a close look at Dele/Grealish and then Dele/Maddison on the same pitch. The autumn internationals always come quickly and Southgate should always have an open mind.
 
People are saying he's just rusty. Well it's only been the last 3 years then. His workrate & movement are obviously top notch but his control & passing is very sloppy. He needs to either work on his weaknesses or chill out a lil more. It could be he's trying a little too hard, he seems easily frustrated.
 
steveperryman said:
People are saying he's just rusty. Well it's only been the last 3 years then. His workrate & movement are obviously top notch but his control & passing is very sloppy. He needs to either work on his weaknesses or chill out a lil more. It could be he's trying a little too hard, he seems easily frustrated.
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he's still a rarity - a midfield player who can score goals and create assist almost for fun....
 
Some guys position, receive, turn, look, and play..... All very tidy, safe, compulsory, and effective if done well.

Other guys, they move into a space, and then their mind calculates the three different places they'll take the ball once they've got it, and then the lay off and play thru they'll do next, followed by the cutting run into the box looking for the return to slot home.....

That second guy, he's already turning, and leaning, and adjusting for next. He's the guy that if it comes off, he's fuken unplayable! And if not, well he's just fuken 'round again with all that fancy sloppy bs.

But at the end of the season, guess which guy is your MVP candidate.

You KNOW this, because you're whole life, he was the first kid picked on the Sunday kickaround. Every single time.

.
 
It's worth looking at the pass completion rate this season in the Prem for our midfielders and forwards:

Dele 82%
Winks 86%
Hojbjerg 88%
Ndombele 86%
Lo Celso 81%
Lamela 83%
Moura 75%
Bergwijn 83%
Sissoko 84%
Son 83%
Kane 70%
Bale 72%

So the argument to single out Dele for being sloppy or wasteful with the ball doesn't hold much water based on the squad numbers. It does confirm what a lot of us have been saying about Moura though. It also shows that when Bale consistently does 10% worse, not a single comment is made. Ditto with Kane who nobody is noticing loses the ball the most.

I think you'll see a lot of these numbers improve once we get away from the Jose football philosophy. These stats were mostly on his watch.

I would say Dele is doing fine considering the amount of game time and match fitness he has. He can potentially still go through some gears, and get in the goals and assists column and perhaps get his pass rate in the 85-90% range. Saying that, 82% is the same as Kevin DB. Perhaps that is about right for a creative player that has license to try things.
 
xvausch said:
Some guys position, receive, turn, look, and play..... All very tidy, safe, compulsory, and effective if done well.

Other guys, they move into a space, and then their mind calculates the three different places they'll take the ball once they've got it, and then the lay off and play thru they'll do next, followed by the cutting run into the box looking for the return to slot home.....

That second guy, he's already turning, and leaning, and adjusting for next. He's the guy that if it comes off, he's fuken unplayable! And if not, well he's just fuken 'round again with all that fancy sloppy bs.

But at the end of the season, guess which guy is your MVP candidate.

You KNOW this, because you're whole life, he was the first kid picked on the Sunday kickaround. Every single time.

.
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Is there a layman's version of this?!
:hmmm:
 
Bale can still find the back of the net, the thing is he's not really blossomed in the way we would've all hoped. When we look back at his time with us we'll really be kicking ourselves.

Dele can be whatever he wants to be. The lad has already proven he can be a superstar. The million dollar question is does he really believe in himself?
 
muttley said:
It's worth looking at the pass completion rate this season in the Prem for our midfielders and forwards:

Dele 82%
Winks 86%
Hojbjerg 88%
Ndombele 86%
Lo Celso 81%
Lamela 83%
Moura 75%
Bergwijn 83%
Sissoko 84%
Son 83%
Kane 70%
Bale 72%

So the argument to single out Dele for being sloppy or wasteful with the ball doesn't hold much water based on the squad numbers. It does confirm what a lot of us have been saying about Moura though. It also shows that when Bale consistently does 10% worse, not a single comment is made. Ditto with Kane who nobody is noticing loses the ball the most.

I think you'll see a lot of these numbers improve once we get away from the Jose football philosophy. These stats were mostly on his watch.

I would say Dele is doing fine considering the amount of game time and match fitness he has. He can potentially still go through some gears, and get in the goals and assists column and perhaps get his pass rate in the 85-90% range. Saying that, 82% is the same as Kevin DB. Perhaps that is about right for a creative player that has license to try things.
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Interesting stats Muttley.

One problem with passing stats though is that don't reflect the degree of difficulty of the pass.

Moura largely plays safe. He doesn't have a decent long pass in him. He doesn't really have the vision to see the openings ahead of him nor the technical ability to make those passes anyway. And he's almost like Sissoko in some respects in that he has to steady himself before he makes a pass - even a simple one.

Kane and Bale (Cain and Abel (anagram)) play on a different level. They're constantly looking for the probing pass that will create space or open up defences. Often it's a first-time pass that's far more difficult to execute. The level of difficulty and risk is greater. That's not to exonerate them of being wasteful but I wouldn't compare them in any way to Moura.
 
Gary Onedaysoon said:
Interesting stats Muttley.

One problem with passing stats though is that don't reflect the degree of difficulty of the pass.

Moura largely plays safe. He doesn't have a decent long pass in him. He doesn't really have the vision to see the openings ahead of him nor the technical ability to make those passes anyway. And he's almost like Sissoko in some respects in that he has to steady himself before he makes a pass - even a simple one.

Kane and Bale (Cain and Abel (anagram)) play on a different level. They're constantly looking for the probing pass that will create space or open up defences. Often it's a first-time pass that's far more difficult to execute. The level of difficulty and risk is greater. That's not to exonerate them of being wasteful but I wouldn't compare them in any way to Moura.
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Agree, in the same way I wouldn't expect Sissoko to get anywhere near those stats if he was the one further up expecting to be creative.

The Son vs Bale difference is an interesting one. That surprised me.
 
muttley said:
Agree, in the same way I wouldn't expect Sissoko to get anywhere near those stats if he was the one further up expecting to be creative.

The Son vs Bale difference is an interesting one. That surprised me.
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To give a more comprehensive picture, what's missing from the debate for me is the number of passes as it's easy to be more accurate with fewer passes too...
 
Spursex said:
To give a more comprehensive picture, what's missing from the debate for me is the number of passes as it's easy to be more accurate with fewer passes too...
Click to expand...

I was saying at the weekend how happy I was to see Spurs exceed 400 passes in a first half of football against SU. Quoted on the radio this morning that City's average for a game over a whole season is over 900.

I have tracked games where Sissoko and PEH are playing alongside each other. Hojbjerg has 50% more touches than Sissoko in the same game. That just shows me how much more effective Hojbjerg is even though their pass completion percentage could be the same. The game is passing Sissoko by. Then we have the opposite thing with Winks touching it more times than anyone, but not really doing anything with it.

I can see why some fans hate all these stats :-)
 
muttley said:
I was saying at the weekend how happy I was to see Spurs exceed 400 passes in a first half of football against SU. Quoted on the radio this morning that City's average for a game over a whole season is over 900.

I have tracked games where Sissoko and PEH are playing alongside each other. Hojbjerg has 50% more touches than Sissoko in the same game. That just shows me how much more effective Hojbjerg is even though their pass completion percentage could be the same. The game is passing Sissoko by. Then we have the opposite thing with Winks touching it more times than anyone, but not really doing anything with it.

I can see why some fans hate all these stats :-)
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Stats help create an objective backdrop to our subjective assessments; for example when it comes to passing stats and distance covered they can often be pointless if you're assessing a creative player who by his very nature is taking risks to create.

Even Kane who of late has seen his touches/passing/distance-covered stats mean less than they did when he's banging in the goals.

Unless of course you're Jose and all you're interested in is a player's defensive actions! lol!
 
muttley said:
Agree, in the same way I wouldn't expect Sissoko to get anywhere near those stats if he was the one further up expecting to be creative.

The Son vs Bale difference is an interesting one. That surprised me.
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Son is not a great passer of the ball either. So he probably plays a greater number of safe passes.

It would be interesting to see someone like Bruno Fernandes' stats. He's a real risk taker. I would imagine his stats are relative low but then the damage he does (to the opposition) is quite devastating when it comes off. He's the lynchpin in OGS's team but would probably be excommunicated to the youth teams in Jose's management.
 
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