Yep - he does look decent. Didn't get to see the tackling part of his game at all but very nice on the ball - good control, simple, effective passing, decent vision and reading of the game - I liked what I saw. I thought he was more of an attacking midfielder but maybe a pairing of him and Bentaleb could work. Could be bloody tasty in years to come and, quite frankly, could be pretty good immediately. Going by today's showing I would not be at all worried with his playing in the Premier League.
I've already praised his performance but continuing on from what others have said, Alli really does look the part. OK pre-season friendlies can't give a truly accurate description of whether a player will/ will not cut it in the Premier League but at 19, this kid is special, there's no doubting that in my opinion. He's very composed on the ball and a number of times I saw him left a little disappointed when he never received the ball in the final third, which suggests to me that despite his age and being new to the club, he wants to be a player that gets really involved and isn't feeling the pressure of being a young newbie, I like that hunger from players when they want to be someone that makes an impact and not just a passer-by, it shows they're someone who's confident in their ability and as we saw yesterday, by nutmegging not one but two world class players, he's definitely a confident individual. I think he'll probably be better suited in the 10 role but having Eriksen there will make it hard for him to nail down a place, he looks more than comfortable in CM though so hopefully that'll create a nice battle between him, Mason, Bentaleb, Carroll, Dembele and any potential new player. Early days but that £5m spent on him could prove to be one of the best investments we've made if he can carry and develop this pre-season form into the new season.
I would play Ali straight away personally, he will learn very fast IMO. We do badly need some speed in the opponents box area as others have said it is reminiscent of AVB. I think it's down to players trying to carry out coaching instructions rather than being spontaneous. Spontaneity is the key in the box and this will only come with players spending time together on the pitch, which we should have had more of than last season.
Not sure if the Kroos one has been posted but here it is anyway: Great stuff Dembele sums up everyone's frustrations with him at the end though. There's a great run ahead of him but he turns down a difficult pass in favour of taking a touch and squaring up the defender, undoing all the pace Alli had injected into the attack
In addition to pace, Alli is clever at winning the ball. He definitely did not make Real comfortable. Bale grabbing his shirt to avoid losing a challenge was an interesting moment, along with the nutmegs of Kroos and Modric. I think I’d start him with Bentaleb, and try to talk Bentaleb into protecting the back four as job one. He’s good at it when he wants to be, IMO. I hope he can both do that and still fire in the balls over the top that he usually does. That partnership looks like it at least has the most potential, and might be the best already. Walker vs. Trippier is a tough one. Walker looked back to his old self, and created by far our best chance. But it’s a relief to have Trippier come in, since the default attacking option becomes Trippier firing in a cross, instead of faffing around at the edge of the box.
One thing I have been confident about in MP is that he doesn't play players simply because of pressure from the board due to their price tags. Paulinho, Soldado, Dembele were all readily and regularly dropped in lieu of players who cost us nothing. So his sticking to Lamela can only be down to 2 things: 1) He has a soft spot for his fellow Argentine. 2) Like OS has said many a time, he sees things on the training pitch that in his eyes as manager justify starting Lamela over Lennon or Townsend. The reason Raziak never became the next Sheringham was that he probably showed nothing in training, ever, to warrant being given the extra starts to help him improve. If it's the first, MP obviously deserves the sack with immediate effect. If it's the second, he's just doing his job - and doing it well - with the players that he inherited from a summer of madness.
Looking back on our last opener, I seem to remember a certain player picking a pass to send Harry Kane into acres of space, who passed to Dier for the winner. The same player found passes like that often enough to lead our team in assists. I can hardly remember anyone else on our team sending players in on goal as cleanly as Lamela did several times. Those passes and the results they earned, which included a win and a draw against rivals, may have something to do with Lamela keeping his place. A lot of hard work may be another thing. He has to start scoring to keep his place this year, though, I think.
We face this lot: Christian Abbiati; Ignazio Abate, Alex, Philippe Mexes, Davide Calabria; Andrea Poli, Riccardo Montolivo, Jose Mauri; Suso; Alessandro Matri, Alessio Cerci. Our team isn't announced yet, presumably because someone just worked out that we don't have a spare striker.
McGee; Trippier, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Bentaleb; Onomah, Lamela, Carroll; Chadli. Subs: Lloris, Vorm, Alderweireld, Rose, Wimmer, Walker, Alli, Dembele, Eriksen, Mason, Winks, Kane. Actually a little worse than I predicted, unfortunately. Dier in midfield, again? Why no Winks in the starting side? Seems like a wasted opportunity and he's done well, so far.
Abbiati did well to deal with that. Terrible attempt to play it back to him. Good to see Lamela forcing the issue, though.
I can't understand not bringing Coulthirst. No doubt he's not ready for the PL. But he's a striker who can make up the numbers, and we're lacking numbers. I would not play any player we plan to start against Man U today. Surely Wimmer, Winks and Mason should play the whole game. If Mason isn't fit enough to play, we should have brought someone else.
Good start and an early goal. Great strike by Chadli on his left foot. Milan don't look up to much, to be fair.
I was just saying how brilliant Pochettino was for using the shortage of strikers to give Chadli the opportunity many of us have been crying out for.
Heavy touch off his chest by Onomah, but he's doing well to get involved again. Good chance gone begging.
