Lampard and Gerrard were two of the best attacking midfielders in the world and were technically inferior to Alli.
Dele Alli is England's best young midfielder playing in Turkey
- Thread starter Brwned
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I’ve not watched Winks extensively but from what I’ve seen he’s another English midfielder who gets overhyped because he doesn’t crap the bed on the ball. He turns 23 next month and hasn’t really proven anything yet. I hope I’m wrong, because I’d hate to see another tournament where England’s excellent attacking options are let down by having a guy as uncomfortable in possession as Henderson anchoring the midfield. His performance against Croatia in July was laughably inept.
Dele Alli is special and it was so obvious by the time he’d played 10 matches in the Premier League as a teenager.
I fully disagree with the sentiment of your post. Park, Butt, O'Shea, Fletcher etc. are "average" players but they are absolutely loved by supporters because they gave their all for the shirt and demonstrate love, respect and pride for the club. That's a big part of what it means to be a "United player". Not a team full of Messis or Ronaldos.
Agree completely, That type of post is the kind I find myself disliking the most on here, and I've seen plenty of them. But it doesn't make me dislike the entire fan base as a result, and there are plenty of good United fans, just like there are both good and bad spurs fans out there.
No. Gerrard was technically superb.
Superb is a bit of a stretch. When I think superb technicians I think Iniesta, Modric types.
Gerrard had other strings to his bow.
Well if you compare them to Messi then I don't think Modric's technique isn't superb.
Gerrard's striking technique was great, so was his ability to play passes. He was more a power player but his technique was easily better than Alli's.
1st touch, shooting, crossing, passing, ball control Gerrard was immaculate. Fecking alli being compared.
Exactly. I can't think of anything that Alli's is better at, maybe except his off the ball movement.
Who can forget Gerrard’s immaculate touch that put Ba through on goal?
His ball control was really nothing special.
His ball control was really nothing special.
He didn't excel as much in close spaces, but running with the ball he was as comfortable as anyone.
Both superior imo.
I really hoped this clear distortion of the truth would stop with Alli being a genuine midfielder. He hasn't been one in 2 years. He does a job in midfield nowadays, and has been moving in the direction of a Muller type of player. Midfielder's run the team, and Spurs' attacking midfielder is Eriksen. If you want to judge Alli as a midfielder in his current state then he is bang average, because the best part of his game nowadays is as a forward. Alli in 16/17 however, could genuinely be compared to midfielders because he was much more involved in the build up.
Alli is not being compared technically to midfielders, he's being compared to attackers. Who have a different skill set.
And Alli isn't? Have we watched the same player?
Compared to Gerrard? Nowhere close.And Alli isn't? Have we watched the same player?
IMO Alli at times can display incredible levels of technical ability, on par with players like Gerrard, but he's extremely inconsistent with it. He shouldn't be compared until he works on that consistency because he can go from looking world class in one play to insanely frustrating in the next.
That's expected though, he's only 22 after all and still has a lot of time to develop. The raw materials are all there though IMO.
That's expected though, he's only 22 after all and still has a lot of time to develop. The raw materials are all there though IMO.
Alli is a brilliant, albeit a bit inconsistent (which is to be expected considering his age), player playing regularly for a top 4 team in the PL since aged 19 scoring and assisting plenty along the way.
Most teams would consider themselves lucky to get him.
Most teams would consider themselves lucky to get him.
Attacking midfielders are still midfielders.
Both Gerrard and Lampard both played their best football as AMs too so it’s a logical comparison.
The overrating of Alli is astonishing on here. Since he came in the PL till now he played 5 full seasons as 2nd striker or most advancing midfielder and scored a total of 41 goals and with 27 assists; a ratio of 8 goals and 5 assist per season, is it really an amazing return for a key player who is supposed to provide numbers? No wonder you won nothing during this spell of time.
The idea that Alli regularly plays as a support striker is not borne out by his heat maps.
Won't stop people saying it, so I wouldn't bother. He quite clearly drops deep in games but also makes some fantastic runs, hence his goalscoring record. He is far from just a support striker.
Rooney too was a support striker, watch his heat map and tell us if it reflects that role.
I thought was wasn't really hyped at all? Probably helped by Alli, Kane, Rashford, Sterling, Stones etc being still relatively young and getting much more media attention when it comes to England.
For me, the few times I have seen him it's how he picks passes/sees the game - plus as you say, he doesn't crap himself as soon as he takes the ball to feet under pressure. When I think about what England really need, it's always been a kind of metronome CM who can sit a bit deeper but isn't just a basic DM (Henderson, Dier type - no disrespect to those players). Like you, I haven't seen enough of him to really judge but the times I've seen him, I think he stands out as having a really high ceiling.
It’s pretty incredible to think these guys who are all young are now experienced internationals:
Alli, Kane, Rashford, Sterling, Stones
That is some set of talent.
Imagine if even a couple of the other whizz kids England have coming through reach their potential (Sancho, CHO, Foden, etc.)??
Alli, Kane, Rashford, Sterling, Stones
That is some set of talent.
Imagine if even a couple of the other whizz kids England have coming through reach their potential (Sancho, CHO, Foden, etc.)??
It's 4 dude.
He’s very good and improving parts of his game all the time. Don’t like the guy but he’s excellent and not just a goalscorer.
Didn't Rooney play as a SS and he dropped deep, did that make him a mid? There are strikers who drop deep, does that make them mids?. I don't get this obsession with Ali being a midfielder, his best attributes are shone when he is closer to goal and every where else he's pretty much average IMO. Why is there a problem with him being a SS?
Nothing. I think people are desperate to say his stats are better than the best goalscoring midfielders in the game at the same age.
I don't think it's a like for like comparison but that doesn't take away from his incredible stats for such a young guy.
If he can become more consistent, he has a bright future.
Because he's not one. He has played there on some occasions, but anyone actually watching Spurs will tell you that he is not playing as a second striker. He is an attacking midfielder, most recently playing as the advanced position of a diamond behind Kane and Son. He has also played other positions including anywhere in the 3 in a 4-2-3-1 behind Kane. At times he has also played as a CM or as a second striker, but this is not often.
Fair enough.. I don't watch spurs too often so I'm happy to be corrected.
It's strange to see so many people get on his back however, great player that is nowhere near his peak that I would love at OT.
Becauase of his horror tackles when things arnt going his way. Nothing to do with his talent.
Hes a more skilled version of Shelvey. Although I feel Alli may mature and eliminate that aspect of his game whereas Shelvey wont.
That’s like calling Keane a more skilled version of Cattermole. They’re both dirty bastards but one’s a genuinely top player with ten times the quality in his little toe than the other has in his entire locker.
No it isn't a logical comparison, because just saying they are AMs is a completely reductionist way of looking at things. You have to look at the qualities and responsibilities of each player. Griezmann plays as an AM as well, but you don't call him a genuine midfielder because he isn't, the same can be said for Rooney in his day. It's pretty obvious really. Both Silva and Alli are attacking midfielders, but you don't go comparing them because Silva is technically a mile above Alli in midfield play. Another one would be Iniesta, who was also technically a mile above Alli in midfield play. Ozil is another one.
The comparison to Lampard is farcical because Lampard only occasionally played as a no.10. He could do it if asked, but he almost always played as a no.8. Alli is practically a part of the forward line for Spurs this season, and Eriksen is more involved in midfield than him. The Gerrard comparison has more weight to it, because he did actually play as a no.10 for a while.
Most Spurs fans on here who watch him every week have already said that “Dele plays as a #10” is a myth.
I don’t watch every match he plays, but I always get the same impression whenever I see Spurs play. He’s far more of a midfielder than he is a forward.
I’ve also seen every game he plays for England this year and he hasn’t played anything like a #10 in any of them.
I think some people go with the 'second striker' narrative to try and downplay his goal scoring record because if they acknowledge he is actually a midfielder then they would have to also acknowledge that he is a very special talent. Much easier to say he is a second striker and then his goals are to be expected rather than anything special. Unfortunately for these kinds of people it very quickly shows up their bias, their lack of time spent actually watching the player or both.
A no.10 is known as an attacking midfielder? Then you have @hellohello saying that Alli plays as a no.10/tip of a diamond most of the time.
Spurs fans saying it's a myth probably don't even know what a no.10 is. The fact that some think no.10 = second striker is proof of that. A no.10 and second striker are different roles. Surely Spurs fans arent saying Alli is playing as a no.8 this season.
Eriksen, Winks, Sissoko and Dier are more involved in midfield play than Alli. He isn't a genuine midfielder this season (it's akin to calling Kane a playmaker because he drops deep and feeds runners like Son and Alli, when in reality Eriksen is the true playmaker for Spurs). He does not run Spurs midfield.
No doubt he'll be performing his full repertoire of cnutish antics tonight.
Id take the Spurs fans knowledge. They watch him week in week out most of us United fans might catch highlights occasionally.
I’m sort of confused by what point you’re trying to make then. I’m using it to mean second striker as that’s the position the majority of skeptics have claimed he played in this thread.
Alli plays as an attacking midfielder, as did Lampard at his goalscoring peak, with Gerrard playing as more of a second striker in his best season than Alli does now.