What was your Dele moment?
I was watching my local team’s efforts at Eastleigh on TV last Saturday night. Chesterfield’s top goalscorer and star player is Kabongo Tshimanga, born on 31st May, 1996 in Kinshasa, Congo, aged 25. Whiling away the time awaiting Chesterfield’s late winner, I used the Google search box on the Spurs Odyssey home page (the search box can also be found at the bottom of this page) to check if there was any mention of Tshimanga on the Spurs Odyssey website. Sure enough Tshimanga’s name can be found when he was a playing substitute for MK Dons’ under 16s when they played a Spurs U-16 team at what was the “Stadium MK” on 24th October, 2011. (https://www.spursodyssey.com/1112/u16mk241011.html) Where is this all leading you might ask. Well, in that same MK Dons team was a certain Dele Alli.
Tshimanga was being spoken of by commentators as a potential Championship striker, but “The Spireites” have managed to keep hold of him at least for the rest of this season. Going back to that October 2011 game, Dele’s opposite number in the Spurs side was Harry Winks. Both number fours went on to play for Spurs in the Premier League and for England. Dele has had the greater success in both regards, and has won 37 senior caps as opposed to Winks’ 10 such caps. Look down the list of 37 names featured for MK Dons and Spurs in 2011 and you will not find anyone who can match Dele’s sensational career after he was plucked from relative obscurity by Spurs in 2015.
Dele made his MK Dons senior debut at the age of 16 in November 2012. He played in an FA Cup drawn game at Cambridge and started the replay when he scored his first senior goal and his team won 6-1. Dele went on to score 22 league goals in 74 games for MK Dons before joining Spurs in 2015. The world at large probably noticed him for the first time when he was a member of an MK Dons side which beat Manchester United 4-0 in August 2014 on the League Cup. Dele didn’t score and the United team was not strong. However, David De Gea was in goal, and it was a remarkable result for a third tier team. Dele’s signing was agreed (famously for “5 mill”) in January 2015, but he completed the season with MK Dons.
Mauricio Pochettino threw in 19-year-old Dele at the first opportunity and his Premier League debut came at Old Trafford on August 8th 2015 when he replaced Eric Dier after 77 minutes. Dele didn’t get off the bench in our next game at home to Stoke, but he again came off the bench in and scored his first goal at Leicester against Kaspar Schmeichel. My headline was “Alli stings, but Mahrez bites back” and I wrote:- “When Spurs’ 19 year old substitute Dele Alli scored an 81st minute goal in front of his adoring away fans, it was a magical moment for the player and those fans who had greeted him onto the field with chants of “Dele Alli” when he had replaced Erik Lamela.”.
Regarding the goal, I said, “Spurs took the lead in dramatic style. Kane was central and battled away to find space to feed the ball to Chadli on the left. Chadli crossed, and Dele Alli stooped at the far post to head home to cue rapturous celebrations. Alli became the youngest Spurs scorer in the Premier league since Gareth Bale scored against Arsenal in September 2007.” Remarkably, in December 2018 Dele Alli scored his 50th Spurs goal, reminiscent of his very first Spurs goal, also against Leicester, and also a diving header in the same goal, and again against Schmeichel.
In total, Dele has scored 67 goals for Spurs, 51 of which have been in the Premier League in 181 appearances. His last Premier League goal was from the penalty spot at Molineux last August, and his only other goal this season was from the penalty spot when we beat NS Mura 5-1 at home. Dele’s goals included 8 in Europe, four of which were Champions League goals. With 52 European appearances, half of which came in the Champions League, Dele can be proud of a record that is just 16 behind Harry Kane who now leads the list of European appearances by Spurs players.
The purpose of this article is to focus on Dele’s most wonderful moments with Spurs, and not to reflect deeply upon the decline in his form in the last couple of years. During his time at Tottenham Dele's celebrations included reference one associated with the Fortnite computer game. Perhaps he found other distractions such as those found here, but it is a fact his form dipped badly in the last couple of years.
Dele wrote this affectionate farewell via his Twitter account yesterday:-
To which I replied, “Thank you Dele for all those very special moments. You will always be in the hearts of Spurs fans everywhere. Good luck in your continuing career.” It seems alien to see him being greeted by new Everton manager Frank Lampard at Finch Farm today.
So, let’s reflect on a few of those moments:-
1. By the time Dele scored his first “famous” goal at Selhurst Park, he already had four goals to his name. The highlights video of the Crystal Palace match can be seen here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtBw_EDp6jw) and you will see the webmaster (and his son) wildly celebrating a goal I described in this way:- “Thanks to the marvels of the Internet, I have already watched Alli's goal countless times. I expect you have too. You and I, Dele Alli, and all those who witnessed the goal will never forget it. Spurs had won a corner, and in the ensuing play Harry Kane hit a cross from the right across the box from the right. The ball was headed back from beyond the area by Christian Eriksen into the path of Alli, who was just outside the Palace area to the left hand side, with his back to goal. Alli controlled the pass with one touch, then with his second, flicked it over his head before hitting the perfect shot on the volley beating goalkeeper Hennessy inside his right post. It was a goal I have watched countless times already, and one I shall never tire of watching. It was a goal that will live forever in the annals of Spurs history.”
2. “Leicester City – We’re coming for you!” we chanted as two goals by Harry Kane and Dele gave us a 4-0 win at Stoke. These were Premier League goals 9 and 10 of the 2015/16 season for Dele, by which time he had already made his England debut and scored the first of his three senior goals at international level. These were heady days indeed.
3. In three consecutive games between 28th December 2016 and 4th January, 2017, Dele scored two goals. The third of those games was a 2-0 home win against Chelsea. Dele became the first midfielder in the Premier League era to score two goals in three consecutive games. He also drew level with Harry Kane's 10 Premier League goals at the time, joining him in joint fourth place in the goalscorers' chart. (https://www.spursodyssey.com/review1617/rev20.html) Dele would score 18 Premier League goals that season. Harry Kane won the Golden Boot with 29 and we finished runners-up to Chelsea.
4. By his third season, Dele was wearing his first name on his shirt and made clear he preferred to be referred to as “Dele”. It is not a convention recognised by the whole football world. Dele’s Premier League return was 9 in this season. He had been suspended from our first three Champions League games but returned with a vengeance scoring two goals in an astounding 3-1 win against Real Madrid.
5. Dele had been attracting criticism from some pundits and fans but answered his critics and gave me one of my personal favourite memories, scoring two goals in a historic 3-1 away win against Chelsea! Dele went on to play in England's 2018 World Cup campaign, playing beside fellow Spurs players Trippier, Kane, and substitutes Dier and Rose in the semi-fina against Croatia. Former Spur Kyle Walker was also in the England team, and of course Luka Modric was playing for Croatia.
6. “Dele highlights” of the 2018-19 season include a super goal in an away League Cup win against Arsenal, and the assist for Lucas Moura’s sensational Champions League hat-trick goal against Ajax in Amsterdam. Dele also had a hand in Lucas’s first goal. I’ve just watched (for the umpteenth time) the BT SPORT No filter video clip which is linked to my match report. It was so emotional.
There have been plenty of other highlights along the way, such as Dele’s back-heel from the bye-line to a masked Harry Kane who then scored one of his most sensational goals against Arsenal in March 2016, a nutmeg here or there and a heroic touchline retrieve that led to one of our goals at West Ham in Jose Mourinho’s first game.
There is no question that Dele Alli will be greeted with heartfelt affection by Spurs fans whenever we meet him in future. Thanks again for the memories Dele!
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