Dele Alli Insists He Won't Tone Down Aggressive Playing Style After Escaping Red Against Burnley

Spurs star Dele Alli insists he won't change his aggressive style of play no matter what people say.

The England midfielder has gotten himself on the end of a lot of criticism as a result of his feisty attitude on the pitch, yet he's not prepared to tone it down, despite only narrowly escaping punishment for high challenges in previous matches against Manchester City and Burnley.

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He also insists his relationship with manager Mauricio Pochettino is still very good.

"We speak a lot," Alli said, via the Mail. "People can say what they want. The tackle at Burnley you know we both went into it the same, the ref made a decision and that's the way it is. These things happen in football, I think you've just got to focus on yourself every game and look at what you can improve every game and training session."

Alli's form has taken a bit of a dip this season, but he has been involved in 10 goals (four goals, six assists) in 19 Premier League appearances so far.

"My form is not really something I think about too much," he added. "But it's always nice to prove people wrong. At 21 years of age when you set your standards as high as I did the last two years it's not always the case that you're going to be able to reach them all the time.

"Some people think if you're not scoring or assisting you're playing badly, but I criticise myself all the time. I always think I can do better, I can do more for the team so it's just about working on myself and my own game.

"People's opinions are changing all the time and you'd be more worried if the other fans liked you as a player. When your own fans start disliking you then it changes and you think about it a bit more."