25/04 - 20:00
Still only 23, Dele Alli hit the impressive landmark of 150 Premier League games last weekend.
This article looks at his stats since joining Spurs in 2015/16 and considers why a player once regarded as England's hottest young talent is now at a career crossroads.
Turbulent times
Alli has obviously been in the headlines this week for his angry reaction to being substituted in Tottenham’s lacklustre 1-0 defeat against RB Leipzig in the Champions League midweek, which brought his form and fortunes back into the media spotlight again.
Alli’s displeasure with being replaced after 64 minutes was clear for all to see, the 23-year-old launching his water bottle and boots at the ground in frustration. The former MK Dons midfielder has definitely improved in recent weeks under new Spurs boss Jose Mourinho, but his inability to affect games in the way he once did again reared its head - his coach even admitting that his side played better after Alli was brought off.
Milestone
A look at Alli's body of work in the Premier League, however, underlines that he is a serious talent. He has been involved in 81 goals in the English top flight since making his Spurs debut as a sub at Manchester United back in the August of 2015.
A total of 49 goals and 32 assists in the Premier League, especially considering he has often been regarded as a midfielder, is a hefty return - but he has - until this season at least - become steadily less and less productive.
Alli hit double figures for goals in both of his first two seasons at Tottenham, but has failed to match the achievement in the past three (though he obviously still has time to do so during the current campaign). A career high of 10 top flight assists in 2017/18 has similarly been followed by an underwhelming return of just six assists over the past two seasons.
The stats, in many ways, serve to underline what is already evident to the naked eye: Alli is a player struggling with his game. The aggression and hunger to engineer dangerous situations is now only there in patches - the ice that ran through his veins in his early years apparently thawing with age.
Drive and determination
Despite the negative headlines, Alli's recent altercation with the dugout perhaps shows that he is starting to turn a corner.
Although he failed to spark against Leipzig, he has already been involved in 10 Premier League goals this season (7 goals and 3 assists; only Kane and Son have been involved in more for Spurs) despite the unrest in North London that saw Pochettino make way for Mourinho last November.
A goal at Old Trafford and important goal-scoring contributions against Bournemouth, Everton and Watford have shown that Alli is still a central figure at White Hart Lane.
📊 @dele_official's stats after 1⃣5⃣0⃣ Premier League games:
— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) February 21, 2020
🏟: 150 Games (W89, D31, L30)
👍: 137 Starts
⏱: 11902 Minutes
⚽: 49 Goals
🅰: 32 Assists
💥: 81 Goals involved in
🆘: 3 Matchwinners#thfc #COYS pic.twitter.com/uDvh77KlvT
Midfielder? Forward? Neither?
Alli may still be a central figure for Spurs - but is it right to classify him as a midfielder anymore? One of the issues Alli appears to be having these days is trying to define exactly what type of player he is.
Much like the 'Raumdeuter' Thomas Muller's goalscoring stats have tailed off alarmingly over recent seasons for Bayern Munich and Germany, Alli finds himself as a player who falls between two stools - neither a true midfielder or forward. In a modern game that increasingly favours a high-pressing version of 4-3-3, these 'Nine and a Half' players that flit between playing the 8 and the 10 position are becoming increasingly less common...and, on the face of it, less effective.
Outside of the box, Alli's contribution is limited - which means he becomes judged almost exclusively on his goal and assist stats, which as we've seen have tumbled in recent seasons. The clear choice he has, therefore, is to rediscover his goal touch on a consistent basis - or become more useful in his team's build-up.
Three Lions competition
Once one of the first names on the team sheet for England, Alli hasn't played for his country since he featured in the Nations League finals in Portugal last summer.
His return of three goals in 37 internationals highlights that Alli has often failed to shine for the Three Lions - and with the emergence of young players such as Jadon Sancho, James Maddison and Jack Grealish, Alli has slipped down the pecking order, in terms of consideration for Gareth Southgate's Euro 2020 squad.
Although Alli has had a mini-revivial this season, both Maddison and Grealish - who arguably do more of the midfield dirty work - both match or outstrip the Tottenham man, in terms of their major Premier League stats this season. Maddison has 6 goals and 4 assists to his name at Leicester, while Grealish has scored an impressive seven goals and supplied six assists for Villa.
Time on his side
To return to the landmark Alli reached last weekend, 150 Premier League games and 49 top flight goals at the age of 23 is a fantastic achievement that underlines the huge talent at his disposal.
The question now is whether Alli can take the elements of his game that have served him so well - and evolve into a player capable of re-establishing himself as a heavyweight for both club and country.
Dele at The Bridge.#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/9dwka1B00L
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 21, 2020
