Dele Alli: England Can Adopt Tottenham’s Mentality for Euros
The similarities between England’s final 23-man squad and that of Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur team, comes down to being young, hungry and talented. Perhaps England could even adopt Spurs’ mentality in order to be successful this summer at the Euros.
Due to England’s Euro 2016 squad being littered with young talent and hungry players — who for most of them are at their first major tournament with the Three Lions — Dele Alli has taken it upon himself to say that Roy Hodgson should find a way to adopt Tottenham’s mentality to become successful this summer.
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What Alli means by that is of course the fact that Tottenham managed to become title contenders alongside eventual Premier League champions, Leicester City, and secure their highest ever finish (third) while gaining automatic entry into next season’s Champions League.
To begin the 2015-16 season, many pegged Spurs to be a top-six club, seeing as how they’ve always been within that range for the past few seasons now.
But by the New Year after Mauricio Pochettino and his squad found themselves inside the top four, talks began to swirl that maybe, just maybe, Tottenham could be legitimate title contenders. And they were, until unspectacular results denied Spurs from overtaking the Foxes in the end.
Still, that kind of experience and mentality is something that England should adopt if they wish to succeed at the Euros. For starters, the current mood among the players has been positive, after good results in their two previous tune-up matches.
“It’s great. It’s the same sort of atmosphere at Spurs – there are a lot of youngsters and everyone gets on well,” Dele Alli said (via London Evening Standard).
“We’ve got the same sort of philosophy and we’re looking to do the right things, which is important for the team.”
“We’ve got to be right mentally – to stay focused and not get carried away if results go our way. We’ve got to be focused and, like this season at Spurs, take each game as it comes and not look too far ahead.”
“We’ve got a lot of new players that have only just broken in recently, but there’s definitely a lot to be excited about. Whatever happens, it’s certainly a team that can be worked on for the future.”
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As recently mentioned, the form of England has been good in their two tune-up matches which resulted in wins over Turkey and Australia.
“It can only be a positive thing for the team,” Alli continued.
“The players that are going to France will bring a lot of depth and it will help the squad massively. It’ll be good for team spirit as well if everyone is playing at a good level. To go away and win the whole thing would be massive.”
It wouldn’t have been surprising if England’s current form has been fueled by their come-from-behind-win against the reigning World Cup champions, Germany, back in March during the last international break of the 2015-16 season.
While it was an international friendly, to win 3-2 in stoppage time can do big things for a team’s morale. It surely surprised many, Dele Alli to this day is still shocked. But that feeling is what is helping England continue forward.
That the Three Lions will work hard for one another to get wins.
“I don’t really know! Whoever you’re playing against, you want to do as well as you can.”
“You always look to impress. The biggest thing was we wanted to help each other and we all wanted the result.”
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England’s opponents in Group B isn’t all that difficult except for Wales. Russia (their opening game) and Slovakia won’t be pushovers by any means, but this is an easy group to advance out of as one of the top-two teams alongside Wales.
Roy Hodgson has brought in youth to his squad so by default England might not be looked at as favorites to reach the quarter-finals or even further. But overlooking England — just like everyone did with Tottenham — will help them shock everyone if they can tap into Spurs’ mentality.