Jason Cundy waxes lyrical about Dele Alli after Tottenham cameo

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Jason Cundy picked out Dele Alli for his exceptional performance off the bench on Wednesday night to help Tottenham knock Southampton out of the FA Cup.

Spurs were involved in a dramatic 3-2 home victory in an FA Cup fourth round replay over Premier League rivals Southampton.

Jose Mourinho’s side were outplayed for parts of the contest by an impressive opponent, but managed to show their grit by sticking in the game and the cup success follows beating Manchester City at the weekend in the league.

Spurs went in front courtesy of a Jack Stephens own goal, but Southampton were deservedly level at half-time thanks to Shane Long’s equaliser.

In-form striker Danny Ings put the Saints in front with his finish in the 72nd minute and it left the North London club on the brink of a cup exit.

But Lucas Moura’s goal and Heung-Min Son’s late penalty secured a spot in the fifth round against Norwich City.

Alli was substituted on just after the hour mark for the hosts and he made a difference with an extremely bright cameo.

The 23-year-old England international played a superb through ball in the build-up to the penalty that Spurs were awarded and he added an extra attacking threat with his dribbling too.

Pundit Cundy, who had a spell at Spurs during his playing career, was left raving about the playmaker for his contribution off the bench.

“I thought Dele Alli was brilliant when he came on. Looked really good, back to the Dele Alli that we saw three years ago maybe,” Cundy told talkSPORT.

“Looked really sharp, his flicks, his touches. Looked outstanding when he entered the field of play and probably went a long way to kind of controlling that game.”

TBR’s View:

Alli really expressed himself on the ball against Southampton and he gave the team a considerable boost when he was introduced by Mourinho.

The attacking midfielder has shown glimpses of recapturing his best form since the Portuguese boss arrived and there is no doubt he’s going to be central to his plans moving forward.

There is now an opportunity for the Spurs group to rest before returning to action on 16 February against Aston Villa and it does look like Mourinho is starting to make a difference in terms of grinding out results, but there is a very long way to go still in terms of actual performance.