Alli has to shut out the silly distractions
THIS time last season, we were all talking about Dele Alli’s world-class, all-action displays. Now he is grabbing headlines by getting involved in silly incidents. There was nothing to be gained from him diving against Huddersfield. Even if Dele had won his team a penalty, he would have risked a retrospective two-game ban that would have seen him miss crucial matches against Bournemouth and Liverpool at Wembley. That is hardly worth an extra goal in a game in which Tottenham were already cruising. When Dele is on top of his game, he is unplayable. He is a joy to watch and I am one of his biggest fans. But at the moment, he’s not playing to the best of his ability. He seems far too concerned by what his opponents are doing rather than his own performance. Dele is still a very young player but he must learn to shut out these distractions. We want to get back to talking about his brilliance.