Mauricio Pochettino warns Roy Hodgson to be careful with wonderkid Dele Alli

Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t want his young midfielder Dele Alli to be pushed into the England senior set-up too early.

Kane is one of the best young English players and enjoyed a breakthrough season in the 2014-15 campaign.

Alli, 19, has burst into the first team recently and is already being tipped to follow Kane into the England squad.

“We must let him do his job”.

“The most important thing is I’m very happy with the effort, with the way he plays”.

“But I like the manager [Mauricio Pochettino] and I think he will get it right”.

“This is a tough moment because he needs to score because he is a striker, but around the club, in the changing room, we believe in him”.

“It’s the same situation as last season with Harry Kane – be careful with the youngsters, be careful with the players that arrive in the Premier League and perform well”, said Pochettino. It’s not easy.

“You always need to try to ask why – he needs to improve, we need to ask why to improve his performance in games. He’s mature, he has a good personality and character but it’s too rushed to start to speak about bigger steps for him”.

It’s fair to say that Tottenham have not been as good since then, though Crouch may be overstepping the mark a little by suggesting he played a big part in that success.

Stoke City striker Peter Crouch doubts that Tottenham star Harry Kane will be able to replicate his stunning form of last season. “It’s (England manager) Roy Hodgson’s decision if he wants to call up Dele Alli“. In fact, Crouch scored the pivotal goal that secured Champions League football for the north London club, a second-half winning header at the Etihad that meant Spurs took their place in Europe’s premier club competition, as opposed to Manchester City.

“You have to be ready for the next game”.

Ryan Mason remains sidelined with a knee problem while Alex Pritchard, Nabil Bentaleb and Mousa Dembele have ankle injuries and also miss out.