Tottenham’s boss shouldn’t be getting Dele Alli’s England excuses in early

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Tottenham’s Dele Alli is one of England’s brightest stars heading into the World Cup.

The next few months are going to be crucial for the development of Dele Alli, as he attempts to help mastermind a top four place for Tottenham Hotspur – before heading out to the 2018 FIFA World Cup with the England national team.

Some underestimate just how important Alli’s presence in the Spurs starting line-up is, meanwhile others have chosen to put all of their hopes on how he fares in Russia. Either way, as reported by The Guardian, Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino believes that people need to stop putting so much pressure on the youngster.

“Younger players always have ups and downs. This season the expectation was massive, maybe too high.

“Sometimes we expect too much and put too much pressure on 21-year-old players’.

While the Tottenham boss is certainly well within his rights to say this, it’s not exactly something that England supporters are going to be happy to hear. It’s almost as if the Argentine is softening the blow just in case Alli isn’t able to live up to expectations during the World Cup.

The bizarre thing is that we’ve seen how mature the 21-year-old can be on the pitch, which is why he’s so successful. These comments seem a bit misplaced when you consider that Alli has been a part of the setup at Spurs for the better part of three years now, and adapting to pressure is one of the most important aspects of competing at the highest level of this game.

Being able to mentally deal with a tournament of this magnitude has never been easy, but young players have been able to flourish on the world stage for years now. And those English players going to Russia don’t really have the weight of expectations on their shoulders (getting out of the Group is all most England fans dare hope for). Alli has nothing to lose in Russia. Three decent performances against rather mixed opposition (even if he has to start from the subs bench) will probably be enough to give him the confidence to grow into the tournament and prove the doubters wrong.