A couple of years ago Dele Alli was looking like one of England’s best players. His form though has declined to such a point that I’m not sure he would have made the squad for the Euros this summer.
With his latest comments saying he sees Chelsea as bigger rivals than us, he’s confirmed that he is the latest player to get what too many young British talent get when they get paid so much, without ever achieving anything …. ‘arrogance’.
Spurs have long reminded me of David O’Leary’s Leeds United. The media love them because there’s so many home grown players, so you end up with a group told every week how special they are when in reality they have won nothing.
Dele Alli has enjoyed the sponsorship deals, being a social media star, etc, yet he’s not a teenager anymore, he’s slowly wasting his potential.
Senior players are rapidly leaving the Spuds because they realise their best chance of winning silverware at White Hart Lane has come and gone.
If his comments were to appease Spurs fans, I would instead be worried. His opinion highlights all that his wrong with his mindset.
The scary thing is, he’s been told how great he is, that he really thinks Spurs have outgrown The North London Derby. This is all based on finishing 2nd once in the whole Premiership era, 7 points behind Chelsea.
Their fans actually claim they were closer to being champions the year before, but it was us who finished 2nd to Leicester. So, to clarify in this glorious Pochettino era, an era where supposedly Spurs have moved on to greater heights, they have been runners up the same amount as time as us.
In fact, in the five years Poch was in charge he lost two Finals, in that same spell we got to five finals winning three of them and that’s when we were in a poor moment of our history.
You would think with Alli so dismissive of the NLD, he must have a great record in the fixture?Spurs have only won once at the Emirates in the Premier League and that was under Harry Redknapp, and that was their only win at our ground since 1993!
I picture Dele Alli one day telling his grandchildren how the Poch era was so special that Spurs no longer saw playing Arsenal as serious. Then having to explain in that time frame how the Gunners won trophies, Spurs didn’t, their manager got sacked and that they never won a single League game at the Emirates.
To put that in perspective, Thierry Henry never lost once to Spurs. He won trophies, at their ground. We really did fight (and beat) Chelsea for silverware. Yet Henry would never play down the significance of the North London Derby.
Maybe that is why he never lost?
Dan Smith
This is so childish. The poor Spurs players will never get over that old Asn’l complex. The little brother hates his big bro. Pathetic.
Well put.Ali will never reach the level of our worst player in the invincible..and I don know who that is.
Ali is over-hyped. He honestly believes he is a better player than he actually is. He won’t even get an England place now Grealish and Maddison are coming through. He will soon be joining another over-hyped player on the bench at Everton where he belongs
Not sure what player you are talking about,on the Everton bench .
Dan- good to have you back mate. I was obviously referring to Theo Walcott 😂😂 unless there’s was anyone else you could think of.
HAH!
I just love how a brilliant Spurs team STILL cannot win a trophy, whilst Arsenal pull off 3 FA Cups during a terrible period of regression. Love it!
What an article 👌 Let’s slate the spuds!! Brilliant!! Always welcome…
This is one fella I cannot bear! He has that face you just want to slap…..
Face, Sue? I always thought it was another part of his body that popped up through the top of his jersey.
Supporters or players by talking about the Arsenal means we are still a bee in their bonnet.Good.🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
For a brief period in time, 1960-61 to be exact, they were top dogs in London.
Their trophy cabinet consists of two league titles – eight fa cups – one european cup winners cup – two uefa cups and seven community shields: A total of 20 trophies.
Arsenal’s trophy cabinet consists of thirteen league titles – thirteen fa cups – one european cup winners cup – one uefa cup and fifteen community shields: A total of 43 trophies.
Chelsea’s trophy cabinet consists of five league titles – seven fa cups – five league cups – one CL – two eufacup winners cup – one uefa europa league cup – one uefa super cup – four community shields. A total of 26 trophies.
So I guess, alli is correct in one way, they have to overtake chelsea’s trophy haul before considering us as their main challenge for the “Pride of London” title!!!
Let’s just remind dilly dally alli that only six clubs have won the premier league and the tiny tots are not one of them.
Ken, my first memorable Spuds moment was back in 1962 at WHL in the old European Cup 2nd leg against Benfica when the Spuds needed to overturn a 2 goal deficit from first leg. They lost by 1 goal on aggregate despite winning that leg 2-1 and I was cheering my head off – you could do so safely in those pre hooligan days, as a kid at least – while the whole ground, bar the away fans, stood there in mourning. Bliss!
I was there Jon, an opportunity to see Eusabio in the flesh. Being in the middle of Spuds supporters I thought it wise not to look too happy. It was a great game though.
If I remember right about 1970-71 (my 1st Asn’l):
1. Leeds United 42 matches 72-30 64 pts
2. Asn’l 41 matches 70-29 63 pts
One game left (on the Monday before the cup final vs Liverpool): Gunners on the road at White Hart Lane against Tottenham hs. And at that time scored goals were divided with admitted goals. That meant that Asn’l would become champions if they beat Spurs or played 0-0. But not if the match ended 1-1 etc. In that case Leeds got the trophy. And Ray Kennedy did it in the 88th minute! That 19 years old kid from way up north. Yeah, he later left for Liverpool. Still love him for that goal.
I guess it’s more correct to write “19 year old kid”.
Curious about my memory, I checked. It was 65 points for Asn’l – 64 points for Leeds after 42 rounds. But in those days the winner of a game only got two points. With the three point rule Asn’l would have ended on 94 pts (29-7-6) and Leeds on 91 pts (27-10-5). Those were the days, my friend. When we’d fight and never lose… Almost.
Robert- at the time goal difference was calculated differently from today. If we drew that game or won , we were champions. If we drew with a score draw then Leeds were champions.
I wad at that game, aged 13, and as quite a few on this site will confirm, the ground was 75% full of Gooners. There was an estimated 70,000 locked outside who couldn’t get in.
An interesting fact for you if you didn’t know it. Arsenal Football Club have won the League title AT WHITE HART LANE ( 1970-71 & 2003-04) that Tottenham have (1960-61). There was only black and white TV when they won it, that’s how long ago it was. They will ALWAYS be in our shadows as a football club, and despite what any Spud might say, they know it.
Sorry Robert-if we drew 0-0 we were Champions. Any score draw and Leeds were Champions. As it turned out, we simply won the game and just put them in their place.
So is Wenger a genius then.
Well said Dan.
need you ask Jah son, every spud supporter knows he was, it just needs a few of our own to realize the fact!!!
Gone backwards since mate
Dele Alli has always been a petulant, arrogant and sneaky player and overrated to boot. What p***es him off is that he knows the Spuds will never win the EPL anytime soon, they are serial losers and bottlers. Some of their young fans from 60/61 are probably grandads or grandmums now and still no title.
Dele Alli has three issues.
First, he is no longer a young player, outplaying expectations – he is a veteran midfielder expected to perform at that level all the time.
Second, he is not a player who drives a team; to use a puzzle metaphor, he is not a corner piece that helps create the structure you need to solve the puzzle, he’s one of those odd-shaped pieces that let you complete the picture. He thrives in the attacking structure formed by Harry Kane, Christian Erikison and Tottenham’s fullbacks (who have left of declines). He roams and appears out of nowhere to score important, unexpected goals. Unfortunately, he’s not the guy to score the goals you expect him to score or provide the assists you expect him to provide.
Third, he is not a disciplined soldier, ready to follow orders and charge into the breech, he is a freelancer who does things his own way in his own time. As a player Alli is quick, skilled, and when he’s on, he is lethal. He is also mercurial, streaky, and undisciplined; when he’s not on he can be a massive liability.
That said, he would walk in to most lineups in Europe, other than the biggest five. (Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern Munich, & Manchester City).
He would not get a starting role at Liverpool right now, but he could replace Adam Lallana on the Red’s bench. He does not really fit into Arsenal’s traditional possession-based passing game built around a 4-2-3-1 formation being resurrected by Mikel Arteta, but he could assume the role Aaron Ramsey filled as a scoring-minded, two-way central midfielder. Frank Lampard looks like he plans to go young in his Chelsea rebuild, and Alli does not have the hard-nosed warrior mentality Lampard prefers, oit is really hard to imagine him replacing either Jorginho or N’Golo Kante; but with Willian and Pedro on their way out, he might fit as a winger. While he is certainly good enough to crack the current Manchester United lineup, the Red Devils look like they are being very selective about their rebuild after being overly cautious under David Moyes and profligate under Louis van Gaal and Mourinho.
It really looks like Alli is one of those players who missed the boat to the big-time. He stayed at Spurs when he was linked to Madrid and a handful of other clubs earlier in his career and now he is in his prime on a declining team that like Alli, has missed its window.
Tottenham had, according to so many “experts” replaced Arsenal as the fourth team in the Big Six hierarchy, but the Spurs emergence coincided with The Man City juggernaut under three different coaches, the rebirth of Liverpool as a regular title challenger, and the new wave of free-spending clubs with mega-rich owners (Leicester & Wolves for example).
Alli rose and is now falling with his team. He was bought on the cheap, was developed into a star, stayed with Spurs as he reached his prime, and is now drifting back towards Second-Six mediocrity. While Arsenal may or may not be joining them; there is no doubt that, whatever Spurs fate, Alli will very likely share it absent a radical move to reinvent himself elsewhere in Europe.