Dele Alli has said being knocked out of the World Cup with England was the most “devastating” feeling of his career so far.
The Tottenham midfielder played 120 minutes as England were eliminated by Croatia in Wednesday’s semi-final.
After struggling with a niggling thigh injury in the early stages of the tournament, Alli returned to fitness and scored England’s second goal against Sweden in the quarter-finals.
But despite nutmegging Luka Modric (not for the first time), Alli failed to make an impact against Croatia and the Three Lions crashed out.
On Thursday, Alli posted a message on Twitter revealing the pain he is feeling after England fell short in Russia.
“I’m devastated that we did not manage to progress to the final,” he wrote. “No feeling has ever compared to this in my career.”
Read the full post below.
— Dele (@dele_official) July 12, 2018
Alli played in an attacking midfield role throughout the tournament and received a little bit of criticism for not being at his absolute best.
For me, Alli is now more of a forward than a midfielder. He is at his best when peeling off the final defender, as we saw for his goal against Sweden.
I think England would have been better off had the 22-year-old partnered Harry Kane up front, with Raheem Sterling in behind. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments.
Totally agree with Dele playing up front with Harry , service to Harry was poor , forcing him to drop deeper to get the ball whereas with Dele as a partner I feel they would have been much more effective.
Harry spent so much time in the midfield position to get the ball says a lot of the quality of the england midfield.
When playing for spurs, Alli is not the engine of the midfield, Erikssen is.
England need a proper midfielder in the mould of Erikssen , if not Modric.
Thanks to the glory hunters and biggest hogs that cost England their chance to figure in the finals.
Langard and Sterling what you two were doing in the squad baffles me your selfish actions in taking shots from impossible positions cost England their place. I feel sorry for poor Harry Kane that was unable to show his best due to no support from the other two pretenders.
I’m amazed how few people have given Dele the recognition he deserves for keeping the best player on the pitch quiet for most of the game.
Modric was very ineffective by his own high standards and that was largely due to the fact that Dele was never far away.
I agree that Dele should have been playing close to Harry Kane, in a supporting role.
For me Lingard and Sterling did not assist Kane enough, both were running into trouble, instead of playing an easy ball. The midfield didn’t provide any decent through balls for the strikers, and has as already been said, Harry Kane had to come far too deep, to pick up the ball. That’s why he was looking so tired at the end of the last 2 games.
Totally agree with all these comments …both Kane and Dele not played in their best position or combination,
and not getting far enough up the pitch often enough.