Tottenham Hotspur Links: Spurs are No Longer a Target of Ridicule

Here’s the latest Tottenham Hotspur Links.

Today will be a light edition of Tottenham Hotspur Links with only two stories to cover, but they’re still meaty to read. First up, Tottenham are no longer an easy target of ridicule this season. With how much Mauricio Pochettino has done to transform this club. Any easy one-liners that rival supporters or pundits had to say back then won’t be able to work now. Tottenham are flying high and not many clubs can claim a victory over them except four teams this year.

And finally, Glenn Hoddle says that Dele Alli doesn’t panic like many players tend to do. Perhaps this is due to his level head at a young age or the environment that Pochettino has created since taking over Tottenham 18 months ago. Whatever it is, Alli has been set up for success in the upcoming seasons and will be one of the most talked about Tottenham and England players for years to come. Time to head to the links below.

RELATED: Tottenham Links: Alli, Early Candidate for Young Player of the Year award

• Tottenham are no longer an easy target of ridicule
  • [via Sportsnet.ca]

For the first time in a long time, perhaps dating back to the glory years of Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs are no longer an easy target to make fun of. And even if people still were to think of ways to ridicule Tottenham, what could they possibly say?

If anything, rival supporters and pundits can just agree that Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham team is going in the right direction and that’s up. While Harry Redknapp’s star-studded team from 2008 through 2012 were always a dark horse to win the Premier League title, they had good chances to qualify for the Champions League on a couple of occasions but could only make it in once.

André Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood? They took Spurs in different directions with different results, but the ultimate prize of a top four finish was missing from their résumés. It didn’t help that AVB would lose Gareth Bale to Real Madrid and that Bale’s world record transfer fee only managed to sign three talented players in return: Nacer Chadli, Christian Eriksen and Érik Lamela.

Tim Sherwood didn’t have an unorthodox method of giving youth academy players playing time, but the balance of youth and veteran leadership, plus Villas-Boas and Franco Baldini’s choices of summer signings didn’t exactly set up Tottenham for success from the very beginning. It was a losing battle in the end.

Back then, it was easy to just make a one-off comment about Spurs to poke fun of them. This time around with what Mauricio Pochettino has done, by completely transforming the Lilywhites, if you so choose to still ridicule Tottenham it won’t be easy anymore. In fact, you might not even be able to because of what they’ve accomplished thus far in the season.

• Glenn Hoddle says that Dele Alli doesn’t panic like other players do
  • [via London Evening Standard]

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For Glenn Hoddle, he believes that Dele Alli’s level head has helped him not panic like other players tend to do. And while this is very true for a 19-year-old, that’s just part of reason why Dele Alli has been successful. The other two parts are obviously himself for being talented, and for Mauricio Pochettino to give him a platform to express himself.

Last season with MK Dons, Dele Alli helped guide his hometown club to earn promotion into the Football League Championship with marvelous displays of talent. But assuming that he would have gone onto another club besides Tottenham, where plenty — if not, a majority — of managers in the Premier League tend to not play youth players all that much, Dele Alli might not have been as successful like he is now.

Sometimes you’ll see a youngster get minutes, but it’ll be very late in the game or in a domestic cup competition or in Europe. It also doesn’t help that most clubs have established first-team starters who might not take kindly to the fact that they’ll be dropped in favor of a 19-year-old who has no Premier League experience to speak of — which isn’t Dele Alli’s fault mind you.

Now while Mauricio Pochettino wouldn’t commit to Ryan Mason as Spurs’ starting central midfielder and still have Mousa Dembélé on the squad. The Argentine manager made sure to give each player equal playing time to showcase who’s ready or not. That kind of mentality helped Tottenham bring in youth players. It didn’t matter what a person’s age was because as a team overall, no one can be considered too old.

Next: How Will Spurs Line Up Against Watford?

Everyone can feel welcomed and easy to talk to when you have an entire squad built with young talent whether they’re 17, 18 or 19 and happen to be playing with other players who are a couple years older. As for Tottenham’s veterans, they’re around the ages of 26, 27 or 28 but have more of an older brother type of vibe to them. Rather than a grizzled veteran who’s played in his countless share of domestic games, cup fixtures and European tournaments.

This is, perhaps the main reason why Dele Alli is succeeding with Tottenham after making the leap from League One to the Premier League and not looking back. Just focusing on himself and being the best player that he can be on this squad.