Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed he will speak to Dele Alli about his challenge on Kevin De Bruyne and loss of form.
Alli should have been sent off for a wild tackle on De Bruyne during Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday and finished the match as one of the lowest rated players (5.67).
The England international is now without a goal in nearly 12 hours of football and, while Pochettino is reluctant to criticise the 21-year-old, he will talk privately to Alli about his dip in form.
“I am not going now to talk about individual players,” The Daily Telegraph quote Pochettino as saying after Saturday’s defeat. “You can assess, people can assess. I’m going to say what I need to do and try to help him and help everyone.”
Alli finished last season with 18 goals, seven assists and a WhoScored rating of 7.35 in the Premier League, but currently only has three goals, three assists and a rating of 6.89.
However, Tottenham can take comfort from the fact Alli only had three league goals at this stage of last season.
Nevertheless, Pochettino's side are now 21 points behind league leaders City and three points outside the top four. They need Alli to rediscover his best form quickly or risk the gap getting too big to overturn.
