I’ve reined in the wild side of Dele
MAURICIO POCHETTINO believes growing up riding horses round his farm in Argentina was the perfect preparation for taming a stallion like Dele Alli.
The Tottenham manager claims to have “domesticated” a fiery beast who was booked 11 times last season and banned for three matches for an off-the-ball punch on Claudio Yacob of West Brom – a consequence of what Pochettino described as Alli’s “devilment”.
But this season, Alli’s only booking came against Liverpool nine games ago, for simply kicking the ball away. “It’s like when you have a wild horse and you
❑ need to put it in a UEFA president box and Aleksander domesticate it,”
Ceferin has hinted the said Pochettino.
Champions League “He is a big talent but he was a final could be played bit wild. He is more outside of Europe. domesticated now. Slovenian Ceferin
“I used to ride a will bring back a lot growing up on bidding process to my farm in stage the match and Argentina. But
is open to it being in never a wild one...
New York. “It might “You can never lose that wild side. be an idea but we That side makes have to speak about Dele a special it,” he said. player. Does he still need whipping into shape? Sometimes, yes. But he is a special, great guy. We have a very good relationship.
“He looks cool but sometimes he is very emotional and we all love him.
“It is a process with all the younger lads to be more mature, have more experience and focus more on playing football.”
Pochettino holds Alli in the highest regard, although following a missed header in the goalless draw against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday, his finishing record recently has been called into question.
No player in this season’s Champions League has had more than his 10 attempts on goal without scoring and, during the summer, his 12 shots for England without getting a single one on target was a higher tally than any other player in the tournament.
Pochettino is unconcerned. “If you think that every chance that he has he will score, maybe we are talking about a Marco van Basten or a Gabriel Batistuta, a striker,” he said. “Not an offensive midfielder, a No10.
“Of course he works a lot on his finishing but the situation on Tuesday was difficult in that moment because when he connected he was off balance. So, no, there is nothing to say about Dele. He is one of the best offensive midfielders in England and he can still improve. But it is difficult to compare him to other players because he is special – different to other players.”
Alli is less forgiving of himself for his miss on Tuesday. “It was a fantastic ball from Kieran Trippier and I want to be scoring goals and I feel I should have put that in,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it when I missed it but I’ve got to keep working hard and make sure I start being more clinical.
“It’s hard but you don’t want to think about it too much, you’ve got to put it behind you and just look for the next chance and try to put the next one away.
“After the miss, it was important I kept working for the team and doing my job. It’s about being professional.
“These things happen and it’s important you put them behind you. Things are going to happen in games that you can’t control and that you can control, and when things don’t go your way, you’ve got to keep trying to do the right things.” REPORTS SERGIO AGUERO may be the next shock highprofile casualty of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City revolution.
Joe Hart, Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri have been ditched by the ruthless Guardiola and now the Argentina striker’s future looks uncertain after he was left out of City’s starting line-up for their 4-0 Champions League defeat by Barcelona on Wednesday night.
Despite being regarded as one of the world’s best strikers, Aguero was on the bench at the Nou Camp and even though City trailed at half-time Guardiola did not bring him on until 14 minutes from the end when the game was lost.
Guardiola claimed his decision was a tactical one to allow him to play an extra midfielder to try to nullify Barca’s famed passing game.
Until City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off, the move appeared to have worked with City having plenty of possession and carving out several good chances.
Although Guardiola says Aguero – who was also on the bench against Everton at the weekend – accepted his surprise demotion with good grace, privately the striker was fuming at what he sees as a snub and it is understood there are tensions between the pair. Aguero did not join the warm-up at the Nou Camp.
Guardiola has asked for more work off the ball from Aguero this season despite his impressive return of 11 goals in his nine games before Barca.
Aguero has admitted he is still adapting to Guardiola’s demands and while on Argentina duty last week said the City boss was “picky about everything”.
He has two years left on his contract and is said to have agreed in principle a one-year extension in the summer, but that has not been formally announced amid suggestions Aguero may be having second thoughts. Sources at City are