Alli urges Tottenham to shrug off their nearly men tag and finally win a trophy
moment dissipate as the ball was squeezed out for a corner.
Eventually the heavyweights came good. Sanchez’s lovely ball four minutes into first-half added time released Lukaku.
The Belgian had timed his run perfectly to beat offside, then he did that thing at which he is so adept; he looked as though he had overrun the ball a little, enticing Finnish keeper Anssi Jaakkola to think he might get it.
Just as Jaakkola closed in, Lukaku stuck out a toe, touched it past him and finished from a tight angle. At 2-0 it ought to have been over.
Yet even then, Reading stayed in it. Sone Aluko, brother of Eni and brought on at half time, almost opened United up on 48 minutes, his quick feet and neat pass playing in Harriott, who saw his clean strike blocked by Romero, evidence again that United were hardly an impregnable force.
Still, the A-team will be back in action next week. That’s when the post-Mourinho era starts for real. DELE ALLI says the time has come for Tottenham to stop talking about trophies and actually lift one.
Despite consistent Champions League qualification and challenging for the title, they have not won silverware since the 2008 League Cup triumph under Juande Ramos.
A Carabao Cup semifinal against Chelsea is on the horizon and, with the threat of manager Mauricio Pochettino departing, this season could be the last chance for this group to win something.
Alli captained the side during a 7-0 rout of League Two Tranmere in the FA Cup third round on Friday and told his team-mates to go one better than last season’s defeat by Manchester United in the last four. ‘We want to win trophies, that’s our aim and we’ve been playing well, we’ve been getting quite far in recent years without quite having the finished product,’ said Alli (above). ‘But it’s about time for us, as players, to start winning things.’
Even though Tottenham are only six points adrift of Liverpool in the Premier League and with Borussia Dortmund to face in Europe next month, Alli dismissed suggestions that Pochettino will look to prioritise any competition.
The 22-year-old did, however, praise the manager’s capability to make subtle changes to keep the squad fresh, although suggested Tottenham were over- confident before losing against Wolves over the festive period.
‘Some people maybe expect you to prioritise different things but I believe we have a strong squad,’ said Alli.
‘We have players who work hard in the gym and on the training field to make sure we’re fully fit and the manager makes changes. He’s very good at that.
‘When you’re going into different competitions, you can’t take your foot off the gas but you’ve got to be consistent and keep up your top level.
‘We had been in great form before Wolves and maybe we got a little bit carried away with ourselves. Maybe we just thought we would win the game. But you can’t do that if you want to win things.’