In Defence of Dele Alli - Because No One Is Even Trying to Fight His Corner for Some Reason

So overrated that he's underrated, so underrated that he's gone off the boil, so intensely criticised that Raheem Sterling is the only player on these shores that can say he has it worse off - and yet there seemingly isn't a way of saying that Dele Alli is unfairly treated without possibly offering any caveat.

He has to be overrated because he isn't easy on the eye, he has to be overrated because he isn't as prolific as he once was, he has to be overrated because he's a star on a team that went from title challengers and Champions League finalists to whatever the hell they've become this season. The bar for discourse surrounding Dele is on the floor.

Admittedly, it's not easy to watch a player like Dele and be wowed. His skillset is an odd one - he's good at finding space, finishing and passing under pressure, but he's rubbish at pretty much everything else. The notion that he can play as a deeper midfielder is one of desperation that he can actually do more, that he can be a complete player. However, in reality, he can just do three things to a high level and that's enough.

But there's obviously been a decline somewhere along the road, and Dele's aligns with that of Harry Kane's - the quick turnaround from the 2018 World Cup. Spurs had more players reach the semi-finals on 10 and 11 July than any other club, and the Premier League season kicked off on 9 August. Mauricio Pochettino was forced to rush back key men in order to simply field a competitive team (which wasn't helped by their transfer inactivity, but that's for another time).

Dele, much like ​Kane, much like ​Christian Eriksen, like ​Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, ​Eric Dier and ​Kieran Trippier, played the season running on empty, starved of a proper recharge after an intense year for club and country.

If he wasn't in the 'red zone', then another midfielder was, forcing Dele either out of position or into the treatment room. Earlier this season, he admitted that his body can't do what it used to. At age 23. A player as fit as Dele was doesn't just let his physical capabilities slip away - this argument dating back a year and a half is a totally valid one.

His equaliser against ​Burnley on Saturday was his 50th in the Premier League, reaching that tally in fewer games than Eden Hazard, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, and there's a good chance you're already sick to death of hearing that stat. That's tough, it's a stat that still matters. It's a stat that, more than anything, shows you still can't write Dele off - he has eight in 22 Premier League games this season in a team that creates sweet bugger all without Kane and ​Son Heung-min.

Dele faces a potential ban from the FA over a racist video regarding coronavirus - it's indefensible and his argument that it wasn't meant to be a public video is cowardly - but what happens off the pitch has only hit England teammate ​Sterling harder.

This wasn't the first time a video of his has been leaked, and his manners and reactions to missed chances and substitutions show a pent up frustration that just didn't exist before. A quick scroll through his replies and comments on his Twitter and Instagram pages (the latter in particular) show that he's targeted with abuse more often than other Premier League stars.

In some ways it's a compliment, but abuse is still abuse; the jibes, largely from Arsenal fans, about his strained family ties are particularly abhorrent, yet have somehow been normalised.

And it's very easy to suggest that footballers don't read these comments, but there's plenty of evidence that says they do - remember when Granit Xhaka just completely lost it in the middle of the Emirates Stadium and then admitted abuse online had taken its toll this very season? Young athletes seem more susceptible of falling into this trap, having grown up with social media intertwined with their teenage years.

And yet Dele's still doing a good job. He has as many goals in the ​Premier League this season as ​Roberto Firmino, more than England rivals Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Mason Mount, more than ​Alexandre Lacazette and ​Riyad Mahrez.

No matter what the adjustment period is to his new role as ​Tottenham's main forward, no matter what physical ailments may plague his style over the coming years, no matter how many times you call ​Dele overrated, it's irrelevant - he's still going to score against your team.

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