IMG
Deli Alli has talent. There is no denying that but he is giving his manager a headache at the moment. For a start he has had a disappointing season last year by his standards. Gone our the days he tore Real Madrid a new one in a champions league qualifier. On saying that he was still able to deliver the killing pass to Moura to put Spurs into the final of the champions league plus he is still very young. That is Deli all over. He can be immense in games but sometimes he can be a ghost also. Deli has only played 30 minutes this season against Arsenal due to a hamstring injury in preseason. But the question is where does Pochettino fit him into the Spurs team? Gareth Southgate is having the same issue also. Is he a number 10? Or is he a midfielder? During Tottenham's season in 2016/2017 he was more or less the second striker up front with Kane in a 3-4-1-2 system. . But Spurs have moved on.
Pochettino is now playing a 4-2-3-1 and sometimes a 4-4-2 diamond formation. So if we look at it now we have Kane and Son who are undroppable at the moment. We then have Erikson (even though he will be gone in January) who makes everything happen. So where do you fit him in?? Unless Deli drops back into midfield or maybe Erikson drops back to have Deli at the top of the diamond. I do not think central midfield is the place for him as you have players at Spurs that specialise at that position such as Lo Celso , Ndombele, Winks and Sissoko. Deli is not specialised in any of these roles and this may be a problem in the future for him.
At the moment Winks and Sissoko are a certainty in midfield due to injuries of our two new arrivals, Ndombele and Lo Celso but when they come back then what happens to Deli. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Erikson may be the first to be dropped as he made his intentions clear. But he is Tottenhams creative powerhouse so this is a catch 22 situation. He was the only player to have a disappointing game yesterday at home to Palace. Maybe this inconsistency is the reason the big clubs are holding back. Some say the selection issue on how Deli fits into the team is a good headache to have but unless he finds a specialised position he may start going lower in the pecking order at Tottenham and suddenly England manager Gareth Southgate does not have a headache anymore either.