A number of Tottenham fans have turned to social media to rave over news that manager Mauricio Pochettino has decided to hand Dele Alli the captain’s armband for the club’s League Cup clash against Watford on Wednesday night.
The Lilywhites confirmed their line up via their official Twitter account, revealing that the Argentine boss had chosen to make eight changes from the side which beat Brighton on Saturday.
#THFC: Gazzaniga, Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Davies, Winks, Wanyama, Sissoko, Dele (C), Lamela, Lucas. @WilliamHill odds ? https://t.co/QaAVTlrYnP pic.twitter.com/Jt5koLRdwr
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 26, 2018
Keiran Trippier, Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose, Moussa Dembele, Eric Dier, Heung-min Son, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane dropped out for Serge Aurier, Davinson Sanchez, Ben Davies, Harry Winks, Victor Wanyama, Moussa Sissoko, Dele Alli and Erik Lamela with Spurs having to host the Hornets at the Stadium MK after their new stadium was delayed in construction, and their temporary ground of Wembley was hosting another event.
However it was the decision to hand the former MK Dons man, returning to his former home ground, the captaincy which had fans delighted on Twitter.
This is Futbol has gathered a selection of the supporters’ tweets:
dele captain ?
— tom dean (@tom_dean33) September 26, 2018
DELE CAPTAIN OMDSS SAUCE
— ?? (@_mevss) September 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/Verttonghen/status/1045010315342155780
DELE CAPTAIN ???
— Freddie Kaye (@freddieftbl) September 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/duhfinnie/status/1045010204952276992
DELE CAPTAIN?
— Poppy (@thfcpoppy22) September 26, 2018
DELE ALLI CAPTAIN ?????
— BBQ FC (@CountSpurula) September 26, 2018
Dele Captain, Love you Poch.
— Harsh Mishra (@SimplyWink) September 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/sebworth/status/1045010994404241408
Opinion
Whether Pochettino’s decision to hand Dele Alli the armband stems from the fact it is at his old home stadium or whether he truly believes the young attacker actually has the leadership skills required, only the Argentine manager will truly know. That being said, it has gone down an absolute storm with the Spurs fans, who also seem to be pretty satisfied with the starting XI chosen by their boss. It is a strong team with plenty of experience, and those who might have been expecting Spurs to throw this one to the wayside and play a bunch of youngsters have been proven to be well and truly mistaken. Now it is time to see whether having the armband weighs down on Alli or whether it acts as a motivator which will get him playing his very best football – something the fans have not seen for a while.