Eamon Dunphy says Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli is a superb finisher with great feet, but needs to eradicate the ill-discipline streak in his game.
The 21-year-old was fortunate to escape a red card for a rash challenge on Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne in the 4-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
Alli was cautioned for the studs-up challenge and speaking on 2fm’s Game On programme, Dunphy said it has become a characteristic of his game.
"He’s a bad lad," he told listeners. "He didn’t make any contribution to the football end of it. He should have walked.
"He has previous. Someone needs to get a hold of him. It should be Pochettino."
Dunphy acknowledged Alli's strengths – "In the box he’s a killer finisher, he’s great feet" – but believes he is far from the finished article.
"He hasn’t really done it on a consistent basis. He scored against Real Madrid recently. What he does is score a few spectacular goals in the season."
City are now 11 points clear of nearest challengers Manchester United after their 16th successive Premier League victory and while the RTÉ soccer analyst says Pep Guardiola’s side were once again "very impressive" in dismantling Spurs, he was intrigued by the second-half substitution of striker Sergio Aguero.
"Very significantly he took Aguero off 10 minutes into the second half. He took his gloves off, flung them on the ground and there was no eye contact with Guardiola afterwards.
"The reason? Aguero can’t play the pressing game. Aguero is a deadly goalscorer, looking to score his 100th goal in that stadium," adding that a couple of defenders would make the league leaders a "really special team".
Liverpool continue to be linked with a move for Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk, though the Saints are believed to be holding out for a fee in the region of £70m for the Dutch centre-half.
Dunphy says the "hyper-inflation" of transfer fees is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, but says it is having a detrimental effect outside of the English top-flight.
"There ain’t no football in Italy. Nothing"
"Bayern Munich are not going to be able to compete, never mind Liverpool. What happens when Bayern Munich can’t compete?
"I watched Juventus and Inter Milan play a 0-0 last week. There ain’t no football in Italy. Nothing.
"If you lose Italy, then you might lose Spain.
"You look at Barcelona at the moment. Gerard Deulofeu, who couldn’t get in the Everton team, is a starter. There have other players; Paulinho, who was at Spurs. He’s brutal."
