Glenn Hoddle blasts Dele Alli in astonishing attack following appearance at Everton game
Glenn Hoddle has questioned new Everton signing Dele Alli’s attitude based on the clothes he was wearing during an appearance at half-time on Saturday.
The former Spurs player came out to applaud the fans at the interval of the 4-1 FA Cup win over Brentford alongside fellow deadline day signing Donny van de Beek.
The pair were cup-tied for new boss Frank Lampard’s first game in charge, and ex-England boss Hoddle is upset that the 25-year-old was wearing his own clothes, coming out in jeans, a dark jacket and a grey beanie hat with an Everton scarf round his shoulders.
On the midfielder’s prospects at Goodison, the pundit told BT Sport, via The Express: “There’s a route back for him if he gets his boots back on and gets his head down.
“I didn’t like the way he walked out on the pitch with what he was wearing.
“I know [Robbie Savage] wears a few things like that but we had a look at that, he’s got a new club, you should see how he’s dressed…
“I thought he’d just got dragged off the street to be honest.
“If I’m an Everton fan, you’re going to a new club. Put a tracksuit on at least or something.
“He’s got to get his head together. It’s not about Frank Lampard or Everton, he’s got to get back on the horse he’s good at, scoring goals from midfield.
“If he doesn’t do that, I don’t see anyone getting the best from him.”
Out of touch
For some reason the former MK Dons player has become the latest target for this kind of argument from pundits who have a problem with modern players.
Last week Alan Brazil was upset that the Toffee’s new signing had arrived at training in a Rolls Royce on TalkSport, despite players all through the league regularly doing so.
His co-host Ally McCoist agreed but made the point that the two Scots are of a very different generation, which is part of the problem here with 64-year-old Hoddle.
But the larger issue is when specific players appear to be targeted with this kind of criticism over others.
Sky Sports editor Alan Myers wrote on his Twitter account today (February 6) that it seems “there’s a few just waiting for [Dele] to fail”.
If pundits can’t even wait for the new man to appear on the pitch before they start complaining it does not suggest they are giving him a chance, especially when his clothes are mostly irrelevant.
As with Paul Pogba or Marcus Rashford among others, it seems to be Black players where the narrative of attitude problems is built up for non-football related interests, which lends an uncomfortable undertone to the whole situation.
In other Everton news, this Goodison favourite has singled out a pair of young players as “terrific”.