The Athletic’s Tottenham Hotspur correspondent James Maw doesn’t believe that Dele Alli is enjoying his football while playing out of position, per The View From The Lane podcast (March 10th, 13:39).

What’s he said?

Alli scored at the weekend as Spurs drew 1-1 with Burnley in the Premier League.

He was deployed as a centre-forward against the Clarets, playing as the focal point of the team in the absence of both Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min.

While he scored from the penalty spot after Erik Lamela was fouled in the box, Maw doesn’t believe he is having the required impact up front.

Indeed, the 23-year-old’s strike at Turf Moor was his first goal in the Premier League since the 2-1 win over Norwich City at the end of January.

He said: "I mean, you can kind of see from Dele Alli's body language that he's really not enjoying it at the moment. It's difficult for any player to play out of position.

He added: "When he is the focal point, it just doesn't seem like things are really working quite the same way for him. He just kind of looks a bit lost."

Not his game

Alli doesn’t have the physicality or the presence to make a ball stick when it is fired up to him.

He is a clever playmaker, capable of flicks and tricks and of bringing other players into position, while he can also gallop beyond the striker, as he has often done when Kane has been up front.

That is remarkably different to being the main man and the focal point of an entire attack.

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Per WhoScored, Alli, who is valued at £72m by Transfermarkt, had 63 touches of the ball in the game against Burnley, was dispossessed four times, and had just one shot on target, from the penalty spot.

He also had a passing accuracy of just 68%, while he did not register a key pass.

As Maw alludes to, it is not necessarily his fault, but Mourinho needs to find a way to restore him to a playmaking position.

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