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Alli, Son and Dier Discuss Tottenham’s Draw Against Leicester

By Alexander Balano

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 29: Victor Wanyama (L) and Dele Alli (R) of Tottenham Hotspur talk during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City at White Hart Lane on October 29, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 29: Victor Wanyama (L) and Dele Alli (R) of Tottenham Hotspur talk during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City at White Hart Lane on October 29, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images) /
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The draws are starting to pile up for Tottenham this season after three months of Premier League football already in the books.

It’s fair to say that Tottenham are experiencing a slump after their recent performances.

It’s not enough that, despite being the only unbeaten team in the Premier League, they still remain in striking distance of first place at the end of November.

Following a one-all draw against Leicester City yesterday, Dele Alli, Son Heung-Min and Eric Dier all had the same response for how the game played out. Though Alli was more critical of himself on top of a not so good team performance to pull off a win.

“No. I feel like I should have scored a few goals and had more of an effect on the game. I think I lost the ball too many times.” Alli told Spurs’ official website after he felt he wasn’t able to do enough to help the team.

Looking back, Dele Alli is right in that he hasn’t been the same since exploding onto the scene last season. Perhaps teams have now taken into account what he brings to a game, thus effectively neutralizing him. Because of this, Alli has disappeared this season.

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After picking up their fifth Premier League draw Dele Alli, Son Heung-Min and Eric Dier all shared the same sentiment that Leicester provided a very stern test for 90 minutes. Handing Spurs their fifth league draw this season.

“We didn’t get pushed about, it’s important that we stand up for ourselves and I think no one was going to shy away from a tackle which is key for us,” Alli said regarding the physicality of the match.

“It wasn’t easy but we knew what they were going to bring so it was important that we stuck to our game plan and performed well. It was important that we didn’t get carried away and get brought into how they wanted the game to be.”

“I think we did that but again it was just a case of not being clinical in the final third.”

The lack of goals obviously have impacted Spurs’ ability to win games when they’ve been the dominating side in practically a majority of their Premier League fixtures.

All of the possession and shots have not meant much lately. While it gives Tottenham chances to score, at the end of the day Leicester did more with less time on the ball. In one clear and precise sentence to sum up yesterday’s game, it’s a disappointing result according to Son.

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“We are disappointed because we lost two points,” Son said. “We should have scored more, we had some good chances to score but this is football – we have to understand, we have to just score and play well. They were strong but we were also. There were many fouls but to be honest we are really disappointed.”

The physicality of a game can take its toll on a team who runs and high-presses as much as Spurs do week in and week out. This style of football while effective, has its downside when it’s not working.

For the first half, Spurs were the better side. Come the second half, after building up momentum but also feeling pressure from Leicester, they shifted from an attacking team to a defending one, trying to hold onto a 1-1 draw.

That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but after conceding a goal, it looked as if Tottenham didn’t want to lose. Running around feverishly for the first 45 minutes against a team who likes to play compact defensivelly and attack on counters meant Spurs were doing all of the hard work.

One solution that Eric Dier believes will work is to just keep on improving themselves. It’s just doing the basic things. Though the results need to turn in Spurs’ favor because the draws are starting to pile up.

Next: Tottenham's Bench Can Ease their Woes

“We’ll keep playing, keep improving the way we play, try to get better and try to start winning games because we’re drawing too many.” Dier said.

“It’s very frustrating. We controlled the game from start to finish and we know what Leicester are going to do, we know their style so we’re very disappointed because we didn’t create more chances and obviously didn’t score enough goals.”