Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli reveals Mauricio Pochettino said he did not like him when he first joined... but he loves the England star now!

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Dele Alli speaks about the impact that Pochettino and his assistant Jesus Perez have had on his game and the day they told him that they didn’t like him.

When I signed for Spurs in 2015 I came to have a look around the training ground, but I think he [Pochettino] was in Spain. I didn’t see him till I came back for pre-season.

It was really hard and I didn’t know what he thought of me. The first proper one-on-one was with Jesus. They were speaking in Spanish and then Jesus said to me: ‘He didn’t like you...’ or similar. The boss was staring me in the eye to see how I reacted. I was speechless! He paused for like a second, and he said ‘...but now he loves you.’

Dele Alli was told Pochettino did not immediately take to him the first time they met 

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The season before last, there was a bit in the media about me, when everyone was saying I was losing my temper.

He pulled me into his office and talked about himself as a player, and showed me some clips of him on YouTube, very aggressive. 

He’s scored some goals as well, and told me I need to have a look at some so I can improve my finishing. He’s better than everyone!

In his chats, he insists we all have to want it, there are no excuses for being tired and stuff. He does push everyone all the time.

At Palace [in January 2016] I made it 2–1 in the last 10 minutes. I watched the goal back and saw that he had run all the way down the line and was involved in the hug. I had not realised.

Do I upset him? Yeah, all the time. [Alli laughs]. A few weeks ago we were doing some shape work and I was a bit annoyed, not at him but just with some stuff. 

I was walking in and looking at the floor and he told me to lift my head up and smile.

Later, he pulled me into his office and talked to me about how if I’m not being happy and positive it can have an effect on everyone. I didn’t realise how much.

The England midfielder did not know his manager had run down the side to celebrate at Palace