Gary Neville praised Tottenham’s Dele Alli for thinking of his team after his side’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Anthony Martial scored the only goal of the game in a pretty drab affair in Manchester, with chances few and far between.
Alli had a great chance to score the opening goal of the game just minutes before Martial won it for United.
Eriksen curled a beautiful ball into the penalty area and Alli got beyond Chris Smalling but put the ball wide of David de Gea and the post.
Alli and Ashley Young were involved in a confrontation in the first half, with the two players squaring up and tempters threatening to boil over.
But Gary Neville thinks that Alli – who has a reputation for being hot-headed – dealt with it well.
Talking on Sky Sports coverage of the game afterwards, Redknapp said: “His heart would have been saying I want to break your nose. But his head would have been saying don’t lose the game for my team.”
Fellow pundit Graeme Souness said, “Some players need to be on the edge to get the best out of them, and I think he [Ali] is one of them.”
OPINION
Dele Alli is a superb player but he has to learn to control his temperament. His reputation precedes him and opposition players – like Young – will try to push him into reacting and getting sent off. He dealt with the Young confrontation decently but he needs to learn to be able to turn and walk away from flashpoints like this. His teammates and manager will expect Alli to be able to handle confrontations without getting sent off and we’re not sure he necessarily deserves praise for squaring up to an opposition player.