Tottenham Hotspur and England midfielder Dele Alli is one of the best young players in the game. The 21-year-old is also one of the most polarizing footballers in the game today. He’s widely criticized by those who believe he’s a diver. Football pundits, supporters/observers of the game and social media users in general often take swipes at Alli by claiming he’s a player prone to taking a dive.
Early last month he was booked for simulation against Liverpool, and Twitter blew up with Dele Alli diving gifs and memes. Right before Christmas he escaped booking for a challenge on Burnley’s Kevin Long, and again the Twitterverse was all about making jokes where a Dele Alli flop was the punchline. Alli disputes this label, and he passionately defended himself against a reputation that he strongly believes is not deserved.
“Nobody wants to be labelled as a cheat. It’s an opinion and everyone has a different opinion. I get into the box a lot and round the box, and I’m an attacking player and I get fouled a lot,” the Spurs star told The Telegraph.
“There are some that look bad,” he continued.
“It’s different when you are in the action. The one at Crystal Palace, that’s the one I saw a lot of reaction to. I was running through and, at the time, all was going through my head was that I didn’t want to step on the keeper. But when you watch it back and people start saying things, it can look a lot different.”
“That’s why I think it’s important that players, not just about diving, about other stuff too, that you don’t get too involved in it and just focus on what you are doing and listen to the opinions of the people you trust.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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