The England star has lost his temper on a few occasions in a Spurs strip but that is not necessarily a bad thing according to his captain.
Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli has told FourFourTwo that captain Hugo Lloris encouraged him to channel his aggression when he arrived at White Hart Lane from MK Dons.
The England international, one of the most naturally gifted footballers to emerge in the British game in recent years, has had his temperament questioned on a number of occasions following a spate of flash points in his first season in North London.
Most notably, Alli missed the end of the season after picking up a three-match retrospective ban for an altercation with West Bromwich Albion midfielder Claudio Yacob, his short fuse drawing comparisons with a young Wayne Rooney.
However, the 20-year-old admits that channelling his aggression can fuel his competitive approach; an opinion shared by Spurs goalkeeper Lloris upon his arrival from League One last year.
“When I trained with the senior team at MK Dons for the first time, I was flying into tackles straightaway,” Alli told FourFourTwo.
“Captain Dean Lewington told me that he loved it, and that I needed to keep doing it. He told me not to shy away from it and to keep it in my game.
“Then when I arrived at Spurs, my new skipper Hugo Lloris said the exact same thing to me, and added that he liked my aggression. It’s not something I’m looking to change.”
However, there is quite a difference between dominating the midfield battleground with hard yet fair challenges and going overboard in an off-the-ball incident.
And Alli confirmed in September that he had been working on curbing his temper in order to avoid further suspensions, according to Goal, demonstrating the growing maturity of a player who has risen to the top at a remarkable speed.
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