‘Another Woeful Performance’ Tottenham Midfielder Gets Heavy Criticism In Champions League Exit

Posted by: Oli Price-Bates November 22, 2016 0

Tuesday night will be an evening to forget for the entire Tottenham squad. They crashed out of the Champions League after a tepid display in Monaco that saw them lose 2-1 and in truth, that scoreline flattered the visitors.

Nobody was at the races for Spurs but one of the most disappointing players on the night was midfielder Dele Alli. The 20-year-old seriously struggled in midfield against a much more mature Monaco side on the night. The only two things of note that Alli did were get brought down for the penalty, and miss a decent chance at the end of the game - but apart from that he really struggled to be influential in midfield and looked out of his depth in a high-pressure Champions League game.

Alli was dispossessed 5 times during the game, a lot more than you’d expect from a midfielder of his quality. He also had 3 unsuccessful touches and only 69 successful, despite the English teams domination of the ball throughout the game. His pass accuracy was a respectable 84.4%, but he crucially didn’t do too much with the ball going forward. Alli only made 2 key passes and attempted 2 through balls - although both of these did find their desired target.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to Alli and Tottenham’s dismal performance on Tuesday night.

Tottenham will now concentrate on ensuring they qualify for the Europa League by finishing in third position. Although this will not have been the aim for the club, if they were to go far or even win that competition it would be a big achievement for the club. The players won’t get close to winning even the Europa League though if they perform as they have done tonight.

In Alli’s case, we must not forget that he was playing lower league football just 12 months ago for MK Dons. He should be allowed some poor performances as he is still young and we have already seen what he is capable of when playing well. Aged 20 Alli is the future of Tottenham, and although he will be rightly criticised for his performance on Tuesday night - the media and fans should perhaps look to put the blame elsewhere.

I think there were certainly worse players on the night for Tottenham. Son springs to mind instantly. Although he has had a good season to date, he was totally useless in this crucial game against Monaco. The likes of Wanyama and Wimmer also seriously struggled as Tottenham were outplayed allover the pitch.