Dele Alli has not been in Jose Mourinho’s plans this season.
The England international has struggled immensely throughout the campaign, finding minutes hard to come by.
He has started just one Premier League game, the 1-0 loss to Everton on the opening day, and has made just one substitute appearance since, playing 21 minutes in the 6-1 win over Manchester United.
He has not been included in the squad since.
He has had some time in the team in the Europa League, playing against LASK and Royal Antwerp in the group stages and Shkendija and Maccabi Haifa in the qualifying rounds. He also featured in the 4-0 win over Ludogorets on Thursday, laying on an assist.
While he did not play against Manchester City at the weekend – a game Spurs won 2-0 – Alli was included as the 19th man in the squad, the player who steps in if an injury is sustained in a pre-match warm-up.
It means that he was forced to watch the game from the stands, and ex-Spurs right-back Alan Hutton believes that he should be furious with the development.
Speaking to Football Insider, he was asked if the news was actually a boost for Alli, and he replied: “Personally, no, I would still be raging.
“The 19th man is normally a young kid, in my experience, somebody that comes along with the squad, takes part in the changing room and stuff and then goes sits in the stand and watch the game. If that was me, I’d have headloss.
“So, no it’s not an improvement, actually, in my opinion. He should be, in my eyes, worst case, on the subs bench – that’s worst case. Even then, he shouldn’t really be. Somebody with his ability and talent would still be raging. That’s just my opinion.
“For him to be the 19th man, I understand Tottenham are doing really well at the moment, I get that, but there’s definitely a place, if they could get him back firing, I definitely think there’s a place in that starting XI where he could be.”
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
Yeah, this doesn’t feel like the kind of news that would have delighted Alli.
He isn’t exactly the kind of player that would enjoy watching on from the stands; he wants to be involved, in the thick of it, impacting the game.
But it appears that his face doesn’t exactly fit in Mourinho’s squad.
Perhaps selecting him as the 19th man was something of a message being sent.
It remains to be seen if it sinks in, but Hutton is surely right with his take here.