Alli hails Pochettino as a tactical genius after Chelsea win

Joe Williams

Dele Alli hailed Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino as a tactical genius after masterminding a 3-1 win over Chelsea.

Spurs were at their rampant best as goals from Alli, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min unceremoniously ended their London rivals’ unbeaten start to the campaign.

They did it by deploying a high press that snuffed out the impact of Chelsea midfielder Jorginho and it worked wonders as Spurs cut their visitors open at will at Wembley.

Alli, who scored his sixth goal in five games against Chelsea, praised his manager for his approach.

“I think working with Poch you know how good he is,” the England international said. “He’s an amazing manager tactically.

“A lot of it was the work we did tactically: on the front foot, pushing up high.

“He’s managing the squad well, rotating when he needs to, picking the players that he feels are best on that day. That’s important for the team, to have players that are fresh and ready to go. Everyone knows their roles and responsibilities.

“He makes it very clear what you have to do.

“So going into the game, you know your role and what you have to do. You don’t have to worry about anything else, your football is natural, it’s what you’ve been doing for a long time.

“So as long as we’re clear on our roles and responsibilities, we can enjoy playing.”

The manner of the display against Chelsea will give Spurs optimism ahead of a big week, which could see their Champions League hopes decided against Inter Milan on Wednesday before the north London derby against Arsenal at the Emirates next Sunday.

“We have to keep that as our level,” Alli added. “We can’t drop off, and we have to improve as well.

“We’ve got a busy month and some really tough fixtures, and it gives us confidence going into those games that we can beat anyone.

“Chelsea are a top side, they have some amazing players and they’ve been in great form as well.

“So to perform the way we did, to dominate the game so much, to have so many chances, we’ve got to keep that up.

“Like I said, we just need to keep this form up and improve, not drop off or take our foot off the pedal just because we got a good win.

“We just have to go into the next games, we know how important they are, just focus on the next game, take the positives from this game, and there are still things we need to improve on.”