Opinion: Dele Alli’s woeful Antwerp stats suggest Mourinho was right to be angry
Dele Alli got a rare opportunity to start against Royal Antwerp yesterday and stake his claim for a place in the side but the midfielder failed to deliver.
He was one of four players to be withdrawn at half-time after an extremely lacklustre display in the first 45 minutes.
The Tottenham boss did not mince his words after the game as he insisted that the journalists should now stop asking him why he does not pick some players (Football.London).
That sounded like veiled criticism of the 24-year-old, who has been left out of the matchday squad on several occasions this season.
Some might view Mourinho’s criticism as being a little harsh given that Alli was not the only player to have an off night. However, the Tottenham midfielder’s individual statistics from yesterday’s match suggest that Mourinho was right to be angry with his performance.
According to Whoscored.com, here are Dele Alli’s numbers for the first 45 mins:
Total passes: 32
Pass success: 75 %
Key passes: 1
Accurate through balls: 0
Dribbles completed: 0
Shots: 0
Unsuccessful touches (poor ball control): 3
Tackles: 0
Interceptions: 0
Stats rarely tell the whole story and so it would not be fair to judge the midfielder’s performance based just on these numbers.
However, what these stats do bear out is that Dele once again failed to show the necessary intensity in midfield and was not sharp enough in reacting to loose balls.
Even when the likes of Lamela or Lucas have a bad game, they constantly look to pressurise the opponents and are often first to second-balls, which Dele does not seem capable of doing.
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