OUR THREE WISE MEN ON: THE DEVIL IN DELE

Martin Keown, Jamie Redknapp and Chris Sutton

JAMIE REDKNAPP

I WAS no troublemaker but if I was playing now I would have been shown far more red cards.

The only time I was sent off was for Liverpool at Coventry in 1992 but there are plenty more times I should have been given my marching orders. Now, cameras capture every move you make and I would have been caught out on more than one occasion.

There were times when the red mist would descend and you would fly into a two-footed tackle to try to get someone back. Other times I would get so frustrated that I would swear at my own supporters.

In 2000, I scored a late winner for Liverpool against Newcastle having just come off the bench. I had recently returned from injury and was furious that Gerard Houllier had kept me stewing on the sidelines for most of the match. tch.

After heading in Dannynny Murphy’s corner, I ranan straight for Houllier to o tell him exactly what I thought. I was so overcome with anger that I needed my teammates to restrain me.

You look back and think: ‘That’s not me,, I’m not that sort of person.’ ernger You cannot put a finger on why you behaved thatt wayway. It is the same with Dele Alli. Dele is a lovely kid. But he also has a devilish side which has led to moments of madness on the pitch. Although he has to control this part of his game, we must not try to knock it out of him.

He has a level of aggression and hunger that is lacking in so many young English players. For many youngsters in academies everything is handed to them on a plate but Dele has had to graft his way to the top.

Of course his childish gesture on Monday set a bad example, and on another day it could have seen him sent off. With Dele, there is always the risk that he could cost England at a tournament.

But that same streak is what drives him to conjure those moments of magic that will win matches for Tottenham and England. It is what makes him such a brilliant player.

CHRIS SUTTON

DELE ALLI’S hand gesture was an act of pure petulance.

Regardless of whether it was aimed at the referee or team-mate Kyle Walker, it warranted a red card. I cannot remember seeing a player give someone the middle finger on a football pitch. It sets a bad example and I would not be surprised if he was retrospectively banned.

Every footballer has a will to win. When you have such a strong competitive instinct, you grow frustrated when things do not go your way. The red mist can descend and you can react.

My first red card was for Norwich reserves against Oxford reserves. After a goal stood which I thought was offside, I questioned whether the linesman’s glasses were working and told him he was bald — in a colourful way!

A few years later, when I was at Blackburn, I was sent off against Arsenal for retaliating after Patrick Vieira had broken my nose with his elbow. When I got up my eyes were full of water, and, thinking that he was grinning at me, I aimed a two-footed lunge at him.

There is no justification for getting sent off but what Alli did against Slovakia seemed stupid and unprovoked. He can only have been frustrated with his own performance. He pplays on the edge and peop people have said his aggression sio is part of his nature a as a footballer. But he n needs to rein in this b behaviour or England could lose one of their key players at the World Cup as a result.

MARTINM KEOWN

I HAVHAVE heard people say tthatttthey like the fighting streak in Dele Alli but what he did at Wembley was just stupid.

We cannot keep making excuses for his petulant behaviour.

If he receives a three-match ban for Monday night’s incident, he would miss England’s opening match at the World Cup in Russia.

It would be disastrous for Gareth Southgate to lose one of his key players.

I do not want Alli to lose any of his competitive edge but he does not need to get involved in these tit-fortat, playground antics.

Alli knows how to push his opponents’ buttons. We saw that when Jonjo Shelvey was sent off last month for stamping on him after he pushed the ball away from the midfielder.

It is important not to get dragged into personal battles with players. I was sent off 13 times in my career and when you are playing on the edge and make things too personal, you can mistime tackles.

Ten of those red cards were away from home and when you are playing in a volatile, ferocious atmosphere, it is easy to get caught up in it all.

The next day you know you have overstepped the mark and it is especially painful if your team have dropped points as a result.

Alli needs to keep his cool and learn how to show his passion in the right way.