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Dele Alli

He is putting in the effort but looks a shadow of the player he once was. I called for him to be sold as soon as he had the first bad season and his price would still have been £100m . We put alot of trust in him to regain his form from his first 2 seasons but it seems that is not going to happen.
 
He’s far from our biggest problem but if someone made a bid for him that was reasonable then I’d sell. Can’t see any of the top clubs going for him, maybe someone like Leeds or Everton would take a punt on him.
 
In a 4-2-3-1 he would play as the no 10, however he needs a creator in one of the wide roles, like Eriksen used to be. The balance of Kane, Son, Eriksen and Dele was superb - each brought something different to the party
They did
But dele actually became less effective as son became more so
I always thought they both started in the same space
 
Play Dele in the front group not in midfield
I think 3-5-2 would work for us now
We have a Romero who came out of defence like a machine last season at Atalanta
Dier and Sanchez who look like CBS suddenly (will that continue) ably supported by Tanganga and Rodon
We have Reggie who played wing back before we signed him, and arguably that would suit sessegnon.
On the right we have royal and Doherty, the latter who played as a wing back for Nuno
We can then play one of Hojbjerg or Skipp in CM along with gio, Tanguy or dele.
The options up front are limited to Kane and son but Moura can play there too in a two
And Moura and Bergwein can play up top as well as wide players
It may sound and look like moving deckchairs on the titanic but it should support a more attack minded structure
 
mate...Dele is not a luxury right now, he is our hardest-working player...
hardest working player that we can't afford to have. makes sense?
i think sissoko has more impact than dele in this role. at least sissoko could bounce opponents off him and hold on to the ball and dribble past the midfield bending the opposition out of shape temporarily while the whole team stood still and caught their breath.
 
Depends how one sees a luxury player. Traditionally one that doesn't work hard, but has great skill and ability. Dele is not that.

To me just as importantly in terms of "luxury players", though far from the traditional use of the word. The players that work hard offer so very little in terms of quality involvements on the ball to help buildup play, counter attacking or playing through pressure.

Take the second Chelsea goal. Lo Celso lost the ball trying to start a counter attack. Just clearing the ball would be easy, literally any PL player should be able to boot it out for a throw. But the more players do that, or play the safe backwards pass, the more responsibility is put on others to take those risks to make positive moves happen. The more risky moves will they have to try because others will only play it safe.

Or when our centre backs move the ball with no pace, no purpose, when our buildup play stinks. No risk, but also no progress and almost certainly no positive moves getting started.

There's a "luxury" in playing like that. Kane will sort it out. Son will find a way to get in behind. Moura will run past four players. Ndombele will do a spin and a twist and find the pass through the lines. Just do your job, don't risk losing it, work hard. But too many players do that, be luxury players in that way and we end up a stale, scoring one goal from open play in five games, low xG, bound to start dropping unnecessary points kind of team.

This might be controversial, but I'm looking at a lot of our players as luxury players in that regard. Alli is perhaps one, but for me he's one that has had to reign in his risk taking in deep areas to be able to play that role so let's give him a couple of months to adjust. Dier, Sanchez though. Some excuses because of age and less experience, but Tanganga, Skipp, Emerson. At times even Hojbjerg, though he's better than most. Reguilon usually tries at least.

Pochettino used to say we have to be brave, in possession, with the ball. Risk losing it to make something happen. Not being brave in that way is being a luxury player. Because you just leave it to others to do what you could have done and make their jobs harder in the process. Different way, but the same effect as a traditional luxury player not tracking back. Leave others to do the job you won't even try to do and make their job harder.
Thank you.
 
I don't think you understand the term luxury player
nice to have, does some things well, but fails to do the basic stuff like defend get stuck in tackles.
run...hardworking.... i can find players 1/10th of Dele's price that can do the same he can out there against chelsea.
 
hardest working player that we can't afford to have. makes sense?
i think sissoko has more impact than dele in this role. at least sissoko could bounce opponents off him and hold on to the ball and dribble past the midfield bending the opposition out of shape temporarily while the whole team stood still and caught their breath.

Sissoko was most effective through the middle and was playing in a different system. Comparing the two isn't -IMO- a straight shot at all. You said he fails to defend, I presume, based on the first goal Sunday? You saw his other blocks? Rather than debate this with you, I'm interested to know your first 11.
 
Sorry Brian i really do not see any sign of that at all, i think we are trying to fit him into a team that really does not suit his abilitys and i am not sure it is going to work.Like i say this has been going on since the end of Pochs time here so it not just a tempoary issue. Like i say i hope i am wrong but i just think we are/would be better off moving on.

I'm definitely not sure it's going to work. I think it can though and I think there are positive signs.

Some issues that need resolving, either by playing someone else instead of him or by the other players doing more of the stuff he's not very good at (again, in part through some chances to the team, Ndombele, GLC). If we can make it work with him on the team I'm quite certain he will again be an attacking threat.
 
hardest working player that we can't afford to have. makes sense?
i think sissoko has more impact than dele in this role. at least sissoko could bounce opponents off him and hold on to the ball and dribble past the midfield bending the opposition out of shape temporarily while the whole team stood still and caught their breath.
Strong disagree.

Alli has already, in a dysfunctional team, won us a penalty and been ever so close to scoring at least another. By Good runs into the box, into the final third. We know he has the skills and finishing to make the difference if we can get him into those areas.

Sissoko didn't really have those runs from deep and we knew he only very occasionally would have the skill and finishing when he got there.

In buildup play and in terms of being press resistant there are more similarities. There are definitely individual situations where Sissoko would do better, but neither is or has been particularly effective in those phases deep in midfield.

What I like about Alli in some of those situations is that he tries, and he tries to make things happen. Now very rarely with the unnecessary risk he used to take in those situations. He doesn't hide and he doesn't shirk responsibility.

Can he take a step up in terms of consistency of passing, finding the right passing options. Being more creative from deep. Let's see. He's still developing in this role and was at his best a fantastic player with a great sense of space and timing in the final third. I don't think it's beyond him to use those attributes deeper to a greater effect than we've seen in his first four games in that role.

Even if he doesn't. One of the deeper midfielders takes more responsibility for creativity in deeper areas. One tasked more with getting forward into the final third. That can give Alli a role where he can get into a lot of the same areas and situations where he used to thrive as a #10. He has great athletic ability, I think he can do that.
 
Strong disagree.

Alli has already, in a dysfunctional team, won us a penalty and been ever so close to scoring at least another. By Good runs into the box, into the final third. We know he has the skills and finishing to make the difference if we can get him into those areas.

Sissoko didn't really have those runs from deep and we knew he only very occasionally would have the skill and finishing when he got there.

In buildup play and in terms of being press resistant there are more similarities. There are definitely individual situations where Sissoko would do better, but neither is or has been particularly effective in those phases deep in midfield.

What I like about Alli in some of those situations is that he tries, and he tries to make things happen. Now very rarely with the unnecessary risk he used to take in those situations. He doesn't hide and he doesn't shirk responsibility.

Can he take a step up in terms of consistency of passing, finding the right passing options. Being more creative from deep. Let's see. He's still developing in this role and was at his best a fantastic player with a great sense of space and timing in the final third. I don't think it's beyond him to use those attributes deeper to a greater effect than we've seen in his first four games in that role.

Even if he doesn't. One of the deeper midfielders takes more responsibility for creativity in deeper areas. One tasked more with getting forward into the final third. That can give Alli a role where he can get into a lot of the same areas and situations where he used to thrive as a #10. He has great athletic ability, I think he can do that.
The fact you guys are even discussing the possibility of Sissoko offering similar qualities is incredibly damming. Sissoko was dogbrick as a CM and if your name is mentioned in any sort of comparison you've obviously doing something very, very wrong.

For me Dele as a CM is the definition of mediocre, he was when he played there under Poch, he has been mediocre under Mou and likewise will be under Nuno. He simply does not have the game to offer any significant from midfield. There are so many who talk about him in terms of creativity but that's not his game. His game is to finish moves off instinctively in and around the box. Away from that area his passing range is poor, his vision is average, he loves to dally on the ball and slows everything down. He has no idea about tempo or conducting the play and he shouldn't have too but that's what we need from CM.

These discussions have been down to death over the last 4 years but the proof continues to be in the pudding. He is not the creative passing creative dynamo that so many want him to be.
 
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