Tottenham head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has said that his frozen out stars need to understand what it takes to get back in his team.
Nuno has been questioned relentlessly about Dele Alli and Harry Winks in recent weeks as both men have found themselves restricted to appearances in the Europa Conference League.
It is deja vu for Alli as, after starting the season in Nuno’s Premier League team, he has quickly found himself out of the reckoning and was unable to make a 20-man squad for the Carabao Cup game at Burnley.
Winks has never been a Nuno favourite and has made just six appearances in all competitions this season.
Nuno has said that the players who are not in his plans need to show commitment to fight their way back into the team.
“At the end of the day what we want is for all the players to be involved and committed,” he said. “This word is very important. The commitment is very important.
“When you are committed you understand better some kind of decisions. You are more patient and keep doing what you should do. Focus on your task, day after day.
“I wish all the players were equally committed. That would be absurd to tell that is the reality because the players have their own expectations.
“Many of them work very, very hard during the week. And then comes the weekend and the coach decides to go with other players.
“It’s not because you’re not committed, but you are upset. You are annoyed. That is respectful. It doesn’t have to do with the commitment of these players.
“These players have to go beyond. They have to make a conscious effort that he has to go again from the beginning of the week to change the opinion and the idea of the manager.
“This is how it works. In this industry, this is what the player should do. Unfortunately, it’s not what is always happening.”
Dele’s decline – in numbers
By Oliver Young-Myles
Dele Alli’s 2020-21 campaign was essentially written off at half-time of their first game of the season. After being named in Jose Mourinho‘s starting line-up to face Everton in the opening Premier League game of the season, Dele was substituted following a lacklustre opening 45 minutes.
It proved to be his last league start for six months. By the end of the season, a player who had won the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2016 and 2017, scored for England in a World Cup quarter-final in 2018 and started in a Champions League final in 2019, had made only seven starts in the top-flight.
The removal of Mourinho and subsequent arrival of Nuno gave the 25-year-old the chance of a fresh start and initially, it looked to have worked in his favour as he started in each of Tottenham’s first six league games of the season. However, since being hooked at the break during September’s 3-1 loss to Arsenal, he has been on the periphery of the squad.
Dele Alli’s record in the Premier League – by season
2015-16
- 33 games, 10 goals, 9 assists
2016-17
- 37 games, 18 goals, 7 assists
2017-18
- 36 games, 9 goals, 10 assists
2018-19
- 25 games, 5 goals, 3 assists
2019-20
- 25 games, 8 goals, 4 assists
2020-21
- 15 games, 0 goals, 1 assist
2021-22
- 6 games, 1 goal, 0 assist
Although Dele has shown flashes of promise as a central midfielder this season, there is no denying that his productivity in the final third of the pitch has dropped off alarmingly. Since the return of football after the first national lockdown in March 2020, he has only one goal and assist apiece in 24 games. In that context, it is easy to see why he has struggled to nail down a starting place under Nuno this season.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3CvJZc6
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