Dele Alli
If we’re being completely honest with ourselves here, Alli isn’t off to a great start to this season either. His Whoscored.com player rating average of just a shade under 7 illustrates just how average he’s been.
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Some of that is down to injury, but Alli has too much talent to every be playing at an average level. His inability to provide Spurs offensive punch from the midfield has been a key reason that Pochettino’s side has struggled o score consistently.
The first thing Alli needs to do is get completely healthy. There’s no substitute for rest, but that isn’t going to be readily available for the English starlet. The club need to make sure they manage his time on the training pitch. Practice time just isn’t that important for Alli at the moment.
It’s likely that Pochettino’s cohorts will have to fight their boss to keep Alli out of training. It’s important they win the battle. If Alli’s body can fully recover, it should allow him to transform into the offensive force that can power Tottenham into the top four.