England take on Tunisia in their first group game of the World Cup on Monday evening at the Volgograd stadium and Tunisia’s coach Nabil Maaloul knows exactly what to do in order to stop the Three Lions.
Tunisia’s coach is very much aware of the burden that the English team will be carrying into Monday’s match especially after so many of the big teams have failed to make good starts in the tournament.
And speaking to the press Maaloul singled out Dele Alli and also stressed on the fact that his team will need to break the partnership of Alli and Harry Kane if they are to stand any chance of picking up points during the game.
Maaloul said: “Dele Alli is a very good player, an excellent player. This is the future of the England national team. He can play anywhere: midfielder in the middle, behind the forward or out on the left. He’s so important.
“For us, it’s very important we close him down because we know the partnership between him and Kane, because they play together all season at Spurs.
“If we manage to break that association it would be a huge advantage.
“The English national team have lots of collective play, with [Ashley] Young or [Danny] Rose from the left, they have so many weapons.
“But the most dangerous weapon is Dele Alli in the way he sees the match and plays that last pass.”
Dele Alli and Harry Kane are teammates at Tottenham Hotspur and both these players know very well about each other’s qualities and abilities. Having said that though, this is first England team in quite a few time which is not relying on one or two particular stars in order to win a major tournament.
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