Alli must up his game or face being England’s odd man out
HE might be represented by David Beckham’s former publicist and share a commercial agent with Cristiano Ronaldo and tom Cruise, but right now Dele Alli is not exactly sitting among the stars.
For the second time in a few days he was among England’s substitutes last night, reduced to a role that he might have thought was beneath a player mauricio Pochettino considers the finest young midfielder in world football.
gareth Southgate appears to think differently, even if he suggested before this friendly against italy that his decision to omit the 21-year-old once again was influenced mostly by fitness concerns. Alli, it seems, has been unable to train properly of late.
But if there has been some kind of injury, it was not serious enough to send him back to his club and it was not mentioned by Southgate on monday. Asked at his pre-match press conference if there were further injury problems, Southgate said no. Last night he revealed Alli was ‘disappointed’ to be overlooked.
more likely, here is an England manager making a point, reminding one of the most gifted members of the squad that places in his team are by no means guaranteed.
Southgate is picking his side on form rather than reputation and, while even a few days ago the smart money remained on Alli starting the opening World Cup game against tunisia in tandem with harry Kane, the situation appears to be changing.
Jesse Lingard is proving hard to ignore, replicating his displays for manchester United on the international stage with impressive timing. his goal against holland last Friday was terrific but last night the rapidly-taken free-kick that invited Jamie Vardy to open the scoring was a marvellous piece of opportunism.
Lingard also displays an outstanding work ethic, but he is not Alli’s only rival. Raheem Sterling was already a good bet for Southgate’s starting Xi given his performances for manchester City this season, but his contribution in the No 10 shirt, usually worn by Alli, feels significant.
it takes something special to unnerve an italy defence, but Sterling did that at Wembley to build on a strong performance in Amsterdam four days earlier.
So, where does this leave Alli? Well, with a clear message that a return to something approaching the kind of football he produced last season will be required if he wants to feature more in Russia.
this was the final international before Southgate picks his provisional World Cup squad — and one Alli spent as a spectator — so those performances will need to come with tottenham under the guidance of Pochettino. But if Alli is smart, an improvement on the pitch will also come as a consequence of an astute piece of management by Southgate.
England’s manager must be pretty satisfied right now, even if Kane’s return from injury cannot come soon enough.
he has a team who have conceded just one goal in six games — no mean achievement when four of those matches have been against germany and Brazil as well as holland and italy — and he seems to have players coming into form at the right time.
But Southgate is no fool and he knows how effective Kane and Alli can be when they are at their best. he will very much hope the latter does take the hint.
he might even think he can pick him as well as Lingard and Sterling, maybe in a deeper, more central midfield role.
As Southgate was keen to stress last night, Alli remains a hugely important player and reports of him having a quiet word with the tottenham midfielder at the end of monday’s training session suggest he does not want him becoming disillusioned.
At the same time, however, he must want a reaction. he will want Alli to hate walking into the Wembley dressing room and taking the locker in which the No 20 shirt is hanging.
Just as he will hope he sits there on the bench with that 20 on his back, suffering at the sight of Lingard, Sterling and Vardy celebrating their goal.
Unable to train? Well, he was fit enough to run up and down the touchline last night in the hope of getting on. But he did not get on, and the truth is he cannot argue with the decision Southgate made in picking Lingard and Sterling ahead of him.