The Tottenham Hotspur pair were taken off at the same time on Saturday.
Steve Nicol has told ESPN that he was surprised about Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to sub Harry Kane and Dele Alli in Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-0 defeat at Arsenal.
Spurs suffered their first defeat in a North London derby in over three years as goals from Shkodran Mustai and Alexis Sanchez helped the Gunners to a comfortable win at the Emirates.
Kane, who hadn’t kicked a ball in 13 days, looked nowhere near his usual lethal self, while Alli was also somewhat quiet throughout the defeat.
Pochettino brought them both off for Fernando Llorente and Son Heung-min with 15 minutes to go, and Nicol admits he was slightly puzzled by the Argentine’s decision to substitute the two of them.
He told ESPN: “I think Pochettino made a strange decision when he took Kane and Alli off. I understand if Kane comes off because he’s not fit, but Alli as well? He needs goals!”
As a result of the win, Arsenal move back to within a point of their bitter local rivals, who are now 11 points behind top-of-the-table Manchester City.
The Lilywhites remain a superb football team with a huge future, but you wonder whether the win over Real Madrid caused some to overrate Pochettino’s side somewhat. The performance on Saturday was certainly not what Tottenham fans were expecting.
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