Alli’s return to his best a good ‘headache’ for Spurs and Mourinho
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho is revelling in the selection headache Dele Alli’s return to form is giving him.
Alli was marginalised by the Spurs boss for the first half of the season and was primed to leave during the January transfer window before the club blocked a move to Paris Saint-Germain.
The 24-year-old subsequently held clear-the-air talks with Mourinho and has been reintegrated into the squad, with his biggest step forward coming in Wednesday’s 4-0 Europa
League win over Wolfsberger that sent Spurs through to Friday’s last-16 draw after an 8-1 victory on aggregate.
Alli scored a brilliant overhead kick before laying on goals for Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale after the break to put himself in contention for more Premier League minutes, starting against Burnley on Sunday.
Spurs could do with Alli producing magic like that in the league as they look to arrest an alarming run which has seen them lose five of their last six games.
“These are the headaches that
I love,” Mourinho said. “The headaches that you don’t like are the headaches of selection. Lots of people not performing. Lots of doubts, by negative reasons.
“These are the wonderful problems. But playing Sunday,
and playing Thursday at Fulham, and Sunday against Palace, and playing Thursday in Europa League again, that’s what I need.
“The players they need to understand this concept of team, and the intensity of matches. And if you have everybody ready or play at this level, it’s the best thing to happen to the team.”
With Spurs set for a gruelling schedule between now and the end of the season, Mourinho is preparing to us his entire squad.
“We have a lot to play for, we have Premier League, Europa League, we have a final [League Cup] to play so every player back is a blessing to us,” Mourinho added.
“We have an incredible number of matches. Seven for us plus three in the national team are ten in March.
“Ten matches I believe is impossible for a football player, so when it is impossible you need to have players available for you.
“We had a problem for a month with only Ben Davies at left-back. Now we have Ben and [Sergio] Reguilon and we need to have that in every position. That’s what we need because we have a lot to play for.”
Alli effort against Wolfsberger puts him in contention for more Premier League minutes, starting against Burnley
Jonas Vingegaard’s victory in Stage 5 at the summit of Jebel Jais was a very comfortable one compared to the previous close finishes in the UAE Tour.
The Jumbo-Visma’s Danish rider sprinted clear in the final 100 metres to cross the finish line ahead of General Classification leader UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogacar and Adam Yates of Ineos Grenadiers for his and his team’s first success of the season on Thursday.
Vingegaard, 24, won the 170km stage in a time of four hours, 19 minutes and 8 seconds. Pogacar got up close to the finishing line to take second spot and maintain his overall lead.
The Jumbo-Visma rider broke away from the peloton to join Alexey Lutsenko, the long-time leader up the hill, with 600m to the finish line.
Having raced alongside the Astana–Premier Tech’s Kazakh rider, Vingegaard went clear in the final 100m. Lutsenko eventually faded behind the chasing pack to finish out of the top 10.
“I think I timed it quite well,” Vingegaard said. “I was thinking it was going a bit easy in the peloton at that point, they were slowing down a bit, and I was thinking maybe I can try.
“And then I saw him [Lutsenko] in front on the road. I think he did a last effort to keep me behind. Luckily, for me, I was able to catch up and also to beat him in the sprint. I’m very, very happy.
“It’s very, very big for me. It’s my first victory this season, I’m very proud of it. It’s the first victory of the season for the team.
“For me personally, it’s nice to show that I can be with the best. And also, I suffered a bit on the other day on the first climb so it’s nice for me to show that I have the level.”
Sergio Higuita of EF Education-Nippo headed the chasing pack in the final kilometre, bringing Pogacar and Yates with him.
They came past the fast-fading Lutsenko within sight of the line, and Pogacar proved the best of the trio, crossing the line ahead of Yates and Higuita a further two seconds behind in fourth.
“I was more focusing on the GC guys than on the stage win today,” Pogacar said after increasing his overall lead by two seconds to 45 from defending champion Yates.
“There was a lot of riding into a headwind uphill today so it was hard to follow all the attacks. It was a great ride by Jonas Vingegaard.
“I’m glad I’ve retained the lead but I’ll stay focused in the next two days. There are no more mountains, but I haven’t
won the UAE Tour yet. Tomorrow we will be riding in Dubai, it’s a special place and I am looking forward to it. The UAE fans are great and I enjoy riding here.”
The UAE Tour’s penultimate stage is the 165km section in Dubai, starting from Deira Island and finishing on the Palm.
The flat course will be another opportunity for the peloton’s fast men so keep an eye out for UAE Team Emirates’ sprinter, Fernando Gaviria.