The last two games Dele Alli has missed - Dortmund and end of last season - they've looked a far more fluid and potent team. Alli has transitioned from being a central midfielder, to a number 10....and now for the last year or 18 months, he's basically been a support striker. At this point, he just sort of floats through games, playing the easy sideways pass, searching for space. He has zero defensive responsibilities, zero playmaking responsibilities.
Jonathan Wilson on the TW podcast recently called him the most overrated player in recent memory, and while I wouldn't go that far, I do find the level of hype confusing. It seems to have come mostly from the 'he's scored x goals....FROM MIDFIELD!' meme; but the reality is, he's so far from a midfielder. He hasn't been a midfielder for a long time.
For some reason, some pundits still haven't realised that and to this day, there are comparisons drawn between Alli with actual midfielders like Gerrard, Lampard...Redknapp seems to compare him to Pogba weekly. Might as well compare those players to Alderweireld, who probably has more conventional midfield responsibilities than Alli does.
As Jonathan Wilson said: "He's the definition of a player, who, if he's not on the scoresheet...he's probably not contributing. He SHOULD be scoring 20 a season, because if he's not, with the most luxurious of luxury roles, he's a huge net negative."
Total contrast to Eriksen, who still somehow manages to be criminally underrated despite him slowly getting a bit more praise.
