Dele Alli scored his third Premier League goal in four days under Jose Mourinho as Spurs lost to Marcus Rashford and co at Old Trafford.
Dele Alli rolled back the years with a stunning piece of skill at Manchester United on Wednesday night and even the most relaxed man in football found himself on the edge of the seat when the Tottenham Hotspur star produced a genuine Goal of the Season contender.
A player who looked laboured and bereft of all confidence during the latter days of Mauricio Pochettino appears to have returned to his swaggering, brilliant best since Jose Mourinho’s arrival in North London.
Alli scored his fourth goal in as many games under the Portuguese tactician at Old Trafford, channelling his inner-Zidane to flick a looping ball away from a bamboozled Ashley Young before hooking a volley into the far corner.
And even the uber-cool Dimitar Berbatov, who knows a thing or two about fancy flicks and stunning finishes, couldn’t help but applaud Alli for a moment of true genius.
“It was a piece of magic. Those are the types of goals that I want to see,” the former Spurs and Manchester United striker told Amazon Prime (4 December, 8:20pm).
“I tried to score goals like that in my career and sometimes I did but this is unbelievable.
“It’s intentional and he knows what he’s doing. It’s not a coincidence. He knows where he is and that there are two players around him and he just has that plan. He flicks it and it’s perfect. It just made my night.”
Unfortunately for Mourinho, no one else in his Spurs side stepped up to the occasion in midweek as his Old Trafford return ended with a 2-1 defeat to a Marcus Rashford-inspired Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Despite winning his first three games as Spurs boss, audible doubts have been raised about Mourinho’s tactics already with a United side in dismal form cruising to a worryingly comfortable victory against the North London giants.
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