Dele Alli Quotes

The most important thing is to help the team to come in front of the goal with one-two passes, I drop down, or I give them space, because for defenders, it's always difficult to have a false nine because they don't have a direct player against them, so they don't know exactly what to do.

There is no Benitez 'method.' We try to be more solid in defense without losing the quality in attack.

If I don't get the service or if I don't the ball in the box, where I want it, I start drifting into midfield. I go and look for the ball. I try to be important for the team in other areas.

The way Guardiola plays suits me. It enables me to get into space in attacking positions.

It's not easy to create chances or a game when you're just receiving long balls.

Not everything is seen that happens on the pitch - the teammate in a good position, where it might get dangerous, how a situation develops.

We've got to make sure we have players that can break teams down because there's no space in behind; we need to problem-solve in a different way.

Part of my job leading the line for Watford is to occupy centre-halves - by that I mean those battles with Huth, say, to try to win headers when the ball is played forward. But I also look to bring centre-halves out of position to the flanks and make space for my team-mates in the middle.

In the Premier League you need creative players to open games up.

I don't want just pure roll out of the back four. I want productive mixed play... how many ways can you affect a game?

For me, possession is to keep the ball while you are waiting for the possibility to penetrate. Every pass is for a reason.

I like entertaining football but, at the same time, you can't concede goals. That's a tricky balance to find.

If my forward arrives in a one vs one situation, I always say: 'let him work it out.' Then my players say: But we can help him!'. My reply is: First, there's a good chance you'll only run in his way, and as a second attacker you're drawing a second defender with you, and two vs two is harder than one vs one.'

Pep's Barcelona was spectacular. They had a collective style based on players of talent, which sought control and sought to dominate all over the pitch.

I like to study everything: the way to be dangerous when you are attacking; what the players should do when you don't have the ball; where they should be. The tactics you tell the players to follow come from all this study.

I would prefer to play for and against an attacking team, but I am now used to playing against defensive teams.

At Tottenham, I'm asked to take a lot of risks to keep maximum possession of the ball and build from the back.

Sometimes in midfield, it's nice because you do get a little bit more of the ball, and maybe out wide you rely on people to get you the ball.

Italian football is just how I imagined it to be - far more tactical than the Spanish game which is based on technique.

When you have players like Aaron Ramsey, Gareth Bale, and Joe Allen, you've got to play football.

When I come off the ball screen, I'm always trying to draw another defender, so where I can get my teammates open, and if not, I can score the basketball.

I like to be in contact with the ball, have possession, to play.

Maybe Klopp is the best manager in the world at creating teams who attack the back four with so many players, from almost anywhere on the pitch. They have an intensity with the ball and without the ball, and it is not easy to do that.

There are a lot of things you can practise to unsettle teams that defend deep.

As a midfielder, when you have sealed things up at the back, my job is to provide the ammunition for the strikers and forwards, to create opportunities for them.