ALLI ANSWERS THE 20 QUESTION
Midfielder aims to follow in scoring footsteps of Lampard and Toure
DELE ALLI has set himself a new target of scoring 20 goals in a Premier League season to help Tottenham stay on the coat-tails of Chelsea.
It is a feat only ever achieved from midfield in a 38-game campaign by Frank Lampard and Yaya Toure, two of the world’s best players in that position in the modern era.
What is remarkable is that it is now the earnest and entirely achievable aim of an impishly grinning player barely out of his teens, with his full-length trousers rolled up so that they only just cover his knees.
“I set myself a target of 15 at the start of the season,” he said. “I’ve got 17 now, 14 in the league, so definitely I am going to try to get to 20. I wanted to add goals into my game and the formation, the way we play at Tottenham this season, has allowed me to be higher up the pitch and get goals and assists. Hopefully I can help the team and chip in with some more goals.”
Alli’s fashion sense is as idiosyncratic as his playing style, which in turn is precisely why Gareth Southgate envisages building his England team with this prodigy’s invention very much at the core.
He insists the clothing statement is not an attempt to show off black and blue calves from the kicking he got against Lithuania – one which at no point provoked any reaction. Clearly, he really is growing up.
“It’s something that’s happened ever since I was at Milton Keynes Dons,” he said. “There were a lot of players that put in hard tackles there, it’s something I’m used to now. It’s something I enjoy! If it’s going to help the team and get us free-kicks, I don’t mind it.
“You have to change your game to the opposition, be prepared to fight, to challenge and to get challenged.
“Lithuania were never going to make it easy for us. They had a game plan and it was clear to see what they were trying to do. So it was important we stuck to our game plan and got the win.”
The frankness of his responses to difficult questions about his temper comes easily and is based on one unassailable fact which is among the first things everybody has to say of Alli. Media comment, fan abuse, criticism ... he does not care about any of it.
The same confidence that enables him to try some of his more exotic tricks after just two years in the top flight means that whatever is written or said about him genuinely sails over his head. Except, that is, when it is delivered by the people that matter.
“A lot of people tell me off!” he said. “I have a lot of great people around me. They give me advice whenever I need it. They know me as a person so they know that’s the way I am. They don’t say too much about it.” Coupled with his imaginative mind is an engine that took him out in front of Tottenham’s ultra-fit squad during their intensive pre-season sessions and which, coupled with Adam Lallana’s