Foul abuse is fuel to Alli’s fire
WHEN Dele Alli came into the penalty box for Tottenham’s first corner, the crowd in the Shed End made their feelings plain. One gentleman was particularly persistent.
The same foul insult, over and over. Alli just stared him down. Sought him out, amid the angry faces, and locked eyes, utterly unfazed. Then he went about the business of condemning Chelsea to the Europa League. That is what the best players do. They take it on. The pressure, the vitriol.
When Alli scored, in front of those same fans, and mockingly cupped a hand to one ear, the abuse and fury rose again. It’s never just a bit of banter when the players do it, apparently.
After the game, Mauricio Pochettino spoke of Alli winning back the confidence of his England manager with performances like that, but Gareth Southgate didn’t leave him out of two friendly matches because he doesn’t rate him; he left him out because he does.
For that reason, if he feels Alli is not sufficiently switched on, he has to find a way to bring him back.
With other players it doesn’t matter. They weren’t going to Russia anyway; or they were on the fringe. Alli is integral, not least for his relationship with Spurs team-mate Harry Kane.
Integral, but replaceable if he is not as focused as Southgate wishes.
Leaving him out was a way of delivering that message. Pochettino would do the same, in similar circumstances, for Tottenham. Anyway, it appears to have worked.