Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ALLI WE CAN BE LIKE THE HEROES OF AULD
Young Spurs star driven by chance to write his name into English folklore by beating fiercest rivals
THE oldest international derby still evokes memories and makes legends out of its match-winners. Paul Gascoigne’s wondergoal against Scotland in Euro 96, Paul Scholes’ brace at Hampden Park in the Euro 2000 play-off and broken crossbars and ripped up turf at Wembley. This England generation know the history and the pride at stake involved in the blood-and-guts fixture which is Scotland’s cup final and where defeat is Gareth Southgate’s worst nightmare. And the chance to write his name into England folklore is what will drive on Dele Alli in Glasgow today. It is easy to forget how meteoric was the youngster’s rise from MK Dons to being talked about as a world-class attacking midfielder in the making. “Every game you put the England shirt on is massive and we know how big Scotland is for the fans so it’s important we go out there and do the job,” he said. “It’s another challenge we are ready to face and as a player these are the sort of games you dream of playing in. “I wasn’t expecting it all to happen that quickly, but you can’t wait for time. “When you get chucked in at the deep end, you have to make sure you take the chances.” Alli, 21, has been fortunate to have worked with Karl Robinson at MK Dons, who encourages young players, and then to have developed under Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, a manager who is never afraid to put youngsters straight into the action. But starting life as a striker at MK Dons and also being a cross country runner for his school have stood him in good stead. He moved further back into midfield as a teenager and yet Pochettino played him almost as a second striker last season, a move which was rewarded with 18 Premier League goals. Alli laughs when told that he looks skinny and lean rather than powerful and muscular. “I’m 80 kilos,” he said. “I think the way the game is right now it’s important you retain the same stamina and fitness you have towards the end of matches because that’s when it’s crucial. There are a lot of things I still need to improve. “I’m nowhere near complete yet, so I’ve been doing a lot of work on the training field physically and in the gym, I need to score a lot more goals.” The biggest disappointments so far for Alli unquestionably came at the end of the 2015-16 season when England flopped at the Euros in France and he missed the title run-in, having been given a retrospective ban as Tottenham blew their title chances. Alli said the unhappy memories of that experience led to some “dark places”, especially after the shock and humiliation of losing to Iceland. But he firmly believes that embarrassing defeat is something England can learn from as they prepare for their World Cup qualifier against Scotland – a view he says manager Gareth Southgate shares. “It’s important that we do go to those dark places to improve as a team and he’s explained that to us,” added Alli. “I think we were shocked at the situation we found ourselves in at the time, when maybe as a team we hadn’t worked enough to realise how to come back from that. “It’s something to work on as a team, and hopefully won’t happen again. “We also spoke at Spurs about how the season before this last one ended, and how we needed to improve. Mentally we needed to be a lot stronger and I think we are improving each training session and each game together at Tottenham. “We’re building together and we’re getting stronger every time, so hopefully we can keep improving as a team and keep fighting.”