It appears as if Dele Alli’s honeymoon period under new Spurs boss Jose Mourinho is over after a disappointing showing in the FA Cup third round.
Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 with struggling Championship outfit Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday afternoon, meaning the pair will have to battle out a replay in north London to seal their place in the next stage of the competition.
Boro forward Ashley Fletcher opened the scoring with a fine finish in the 50th minute before Spurs needed heroics from Lucas Moura, who headed home a Serge Aurier cross just over ten minutes later.
Alli, who played the full 90 minutes, was blasted on social media following the full-time whistle up in the northeast with much of the travelling support absolutely reeling by his attitude and performance.
Here’s some of the reaction…
One supporter labelled him an array of adjectives, including ‘slow, lazy and arrogant’ while another claimed his presence on the pitch was ‘anonymous.’
Alli was even described as being the worst player on the pitch in a white shirt, stating that he couldn’t string a pass together and that he tries too many flicks.
It has led to several more fans wanting the 23-year-old to be sold amongst other things…
The England international was berated as a flop who must be benched for the time being and then sold in the summer, while some of the Spurs faithful didn’t want to wait another few months and wished for him to depart during the January transfer window.
Per SofaScore, Alli had the lowest rating of anyone on the pitch, winning just 30% of his ground duels, losing possession 19 times and being dribbled past twice – against a side that sits 16th in the second tier, that’s just not good enough.
And it couldn’t be without controversy either as the midfielder was once again booked for diving, giving the travelling crowd more ammo to fire at him on Twitter…
Alli has started every single Premier League game under Mourinho since he took the helm but has provided just one goal and one assist in his last six matches, seven including this outing on Sunday.
Spurs are in the hat for the fourth round later this evening, if that’s any small consolation.
Can you remember how much each of these transfer icons cost? Only experts will get 100% on our quiz…
And in other news, Daniel Levy must open the chequebook to bolster this key area this month…