Ryan Giggs hails Dele Alli as the perfect No.10
Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs has come out in praise of England and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, Dele Alli, following his recent performances for club and country. Alli had most recently played for England in their 2-0 win over Malta at Wembley on October 8th.
Alli scored the second goal for the Three Lions after Daniel Sturridge opened the scoring for the home side. The Tottenham youngster could have had a few more goals to his name had Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg not been in the form he was in on the night.
“I think Dele Alli is a brilliant young player. I really like him, he’s the perfect No.10. He’s always available and plays in them little pockets. He’s always a threat,” Giggs said, in his role as a pundit for ITV Sport.
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The 20-year-old was given the free role in attacking midfield by interim England manager, Gareth Southgate. Despite captain Wayne Rooney starting the match, Alli was given licence to take up the Number 10 role.
In the England squad that was announced to travel to Slovenia, Rooney was dropped and Jordan Henderson was named as the stand-in captain. One will begin to wonder if this is the end of the road for the 30-year-old Manchester United captain.
However, this will come as good news to Alli, who will now have complete licence to take up the role behind the striker and play his natural game without any hindrance.
The Milton Keynes-born midfielder has been in good form for his club too, as Tottenham most recently overpowered table-toppers Manchester City and handed them their first loss of the season. Alli had scored the second goal of that game after having been deployed in the free role by Mauricio Pochettino.
In seven appearances for the Spurs this season, Alli has scored two goals and also created 13 chances, which is only behind Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela. Spurs are currently second in the English Premier League table, just one point behind Manchester City.
If the 20-year-old can keep his feet on the ground and keep up his performances, he could grow into one of the all-time midfield greats for England and Tottenham. After having narrowly missed out on the Premier League title last season, Spurs will be looking to go all the way this time around and Alli will hope to help his team in their pursuit of the title.
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