Tony Cascarino shared his sympathy for Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli after he got criticised for his display against Liverpool.
The pundit revealed that he thought the 23-year-old Spurs midfielder got a lot of criticism during Spurs’ 2-0 loss to the Reds on Saturday in the Champions League final, and stated that he felt sorry for him as a result.
Cascarino stated that he thought Alli struggled on Saturday as Mauricio Pochettino didn’t play to his strengths and added that he would love to see Alli impose himself more on games in the future.
“Dele Alli got a lot of criticism on Saturday night for the way he played but I felt sorry for him — the way Pochettino set them up just did not suit Alli. He was being asked to try to work with scraps of possession that came from Spurs’ long balls,” wrote Cascarino in his column for The Times.
“I would like to see him impose himself more on games — to demand that his team-mates get him the ball to feet.”
OPINION
Cascarino has certainly changed his tune. The pundit blasted Alli for his performance when on talkSPORT on Sunday and didn’t seem sympathetic towards the 23-year-old then. In fact Cascarino used Alli having an average game to defend the poor display of his teammate Harry Kane, so it’s odd why he has opted to defend the midfielder in his Times’ column. However it is understandable why the pundit has realised he should be nice to Alli as you do feel, Pochettino’s system against the Reds didn’t help him. The 23-year-old kept dropping really deep, was at times playing on the wing, and just didn’t seem to be playing in his natural position. Also there’s the fact that Alli struggled in his outings ahead of the Champions League final, so perhaps Pochettino should have realised this and not thrown him to the wolves by starting him against the Reds. The 23-year-old looked tired in his final league games of the season, and you have to wonder whether the right call would have been dropping him for the Champions League final.