Gasps filled the media suite, and if reports are to be believed also the Spurs Dressing room, as Jose named his squad for Southampton, omitting Dele for the second time in a week. A player that started Jose’s reign on fire scoring 5 in 8 games, the player branded the real Dele after months of jokes suggesting he had been imitated by Dele’s brother, has now found himself frozen out from the squad. More worryingly for Dele is the apparent lack of explanation from the manager. Popular docuseries All or Nothing recently featured a similar situation in which Danny Rose was seen asking Jose for clarity of why he wasn’t starting games, having been dropped without explanation.
All indications suggested he was key to Mourinho’s plans this term, impressing in preseason and gaining high praise from his manager and teammates alike. Alli looked fully fit and hungry to prove himself. After just 45 minutes of Spurs’ opener against Everton, Dele was replaced following a dreadful team performance, and hasn’t set foot on the pitch since. The consensus being that the struggling starlet may look to depart this month, reports even suggesting he’s been offered to clubs. Questions must be asked as to how a phenomenal young player who has already achieved so much can find himself at a career crossroads, and why Mourinho may be willing to let him depart.
The year is 2017, The season has just ended with a resounding 7-1 victory away at Hull and Tottenham have secured a Premier League high 2nd position. Spurs have unearthed a generational talent in Dele who picked up his second consecutive PFA young Player of the year award, recording 18 league goals and 7 assists from midfield; in doing so surpassing goal and assist stats at the same age of Gerrard, Scholes and Lampard combined. Another impressive season followed as Spurs made camp at Wembley. With 9 league goals and 10 assists together with an outstanding performance in the dismantling of reigning Champions League Holders Real Madrid, Dele had become a household name and a key man for his country moving in to the 2018 World Cup.
Since the World Cup the Spurs star has struggled to reach his previous heights, coinciding with Tottenham’s gradual fall from contention, and the departures from the first team of midfield mainstays Dembele and Wanyama. Dele always enjoyed a great on field connection with Harry Kane; they have combined for 16 goals in the premier league putting them 8th on the all time assist-goal combinations up to May 2020.
It is however Harry Kane’s adaptation of his own game, in addition to Son’s emergence as a key player at Tottenham, that I believe has been detrimental to Dele’s role in the Spurs team. Kane has suffered numerous ankle injuries in recent seasons before a substantial hamstring tear caused him to miss much of the last campaign, these injuries have resulted in him losing a yard of pace. This extra yard prevents him from making bursts to the front post to convert crosses and play on the last man. In order to adapt his game and utilise his outstanding passing attribute, Kane often can be seen dropping into a deeper role than that he enjoyed earlier in his career.
In both of the above images, Kane has dropped into the space between the centre backs and the midfield. He then encourages the wide attackers to make runs beyond him for him to play them in. The first image was months after the World Cup for England, against Spain in the Nations League, ,and is in the build up to a Sterling goal. By dropping deep he creates space for the runners to get in behind the back line as the centre backs are sucked up the pitch into a higher line wondering if to follow Kane. The pace of Rashford and Sterling can then be exploited over the top or down the channels.
In the second picture Kane has again dropped deeper to receive the ball, this time in Sunday’s Tottenham victory at Southampton. Kane has dropped into the channel between the defence and midfield and has pulled the centre back high up the pitch. This left a hole behind the centre back which Son drifts into from the left and exploits this space to receive and score one of his four goals assisted by Kane in the game.
Alli has occupied the number 10 role for Spurs in recent years in a 4-2-3-1 system, and this space that Kane is dropping into in the above examples is one you’d expect a number 10 to occupy. That lack of space impacts on Deles ability to be involved in the build-up and leaves him needing to either play deeper than he is comfortable, or further forward almost as a striker making him far easier to mark than if he were making late runs into the box.
At Alli’s peak he used to drift in from the left, rather like Son now does; timing his run to perfection to get in behind as Kane, in a higher starting point, occupied the centre backs. Spurs at this point were playing a wing back system in which Kane played up front with two of Eriksen, Son or Dele playing off of him and the wing backs providing the width.
In the top image you can see that Kane is playing high against the centre backs, making his run between them to occupy both centre backs as Eriksen receives the ball. In the next image, Dele has used Kane’s occupancy of the centre backs to drift in behind the back of them and free himself to eventually score the header.
In the above picture, once again Dele has made his run drifting from the left into the gap as Kane is occupying the two centre backs playing high up the pitch. He receives the long ball on his chest before slotting into the net after escaping the attention of the defender. With Son now playing from the left for Spurs, his ability to do this is again now limited by another player using the space he once occupied. The roles in which Dele occupied in Pochettino’s successful team are no longer as prominent in Mourinho’s system which could lead to Mourinho seeing a him as surplus to requirements.
Mourinho was non-committal on the subject on Sunday stating an imbalanced squad and the inability to fit all his attacking options on the bench as reasoning for his absence; he stated that a team is a puzzle and you cannot name 4 wingers or 3 wingers and a number 10 on the bench. He did mention however that Dele could be included in a balanced squad and that he didn’t “need” to be sacrificed, however having raved about his preseason just weeks ago one suspects we don’t know the whole story.
Spurs delighted their fans bringing home global superstar Gareth Bale just a day before the Southampton game, another world class option to add to a vast attacking pool of talent now at the club. Jose often refers to wanting 2 players for each position for a balanced squad and with the addition of Bale they have 6 players for 3 spots. With the mouth-watering prospect of Bale, Son and Kane lining up as a front 3, Jose must decide whether a number 10 of the Dele ilk suits his system moving forward. This could certainly be a reason Jose is more willing to listen to offers for the former MK Dons man. Tanguy Ndombele and Lo Celso were brought in last summer to provide creativity from the centre of the park and following Hjojberg’s arrival earlier in the window, a 433 formation seems likely to be Jose’s chosen system. This begs the question to what Dele’s best position is in that system, and whether his lack of compatibility and high sell on value make his position in the squad vulnerable.
Played as a wide forward he could use his great movement and ghost into the box with late runs to score as he has proved in the past. You would have to question however whether Dele has the pace or dribbling ability to play in that position; while being a very skilful player Dele has always relied on instinct and timing. When given lots of space and time, he tends to be lethargic and not move the ball quickly enough often turning over possession. He could also play in this system as one of a 3 in midfield. To do so, the young midfielder would need to be more tactically disciplined and comfortable taking the ball deeper, before making late runs into the box.
Dele is at his best when playing off of Harry Kane, he used Kane’s movement as a decoy to find space and make late runs into the penalty box. In addition to this, Dele was far more suited to Pochettino’s high press than the counter attack style currently employed by Mourinho. By Spurs wi,nning the ball high up the pitch there was more space and less players back to drive at in the attack. For a player who acts on instincts such as Alli, having less time to think often benefits his game.
The next two weeks will tell us whether the omission of Dele was one to prove he is not needed, or merely a Mourinho mind game used to challenge the player to rediscover his best form. It is clear that an adaptation will be needed for Alli to fit into Jose’s system and become the player once described as the best player in the world of his age, but great players to not become bad players overnight and I would not put it past the Spurs star to flourish once again.
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