If you look at the array of players Mauricio Pochettino managed in his career, you must wonder about the pedigree of the USMNT coach. His management speaks volumes about the success stories he had throughout his career. With a little banter aside, who expected Tottenham Hotspur to make the UEFA Champions League final? Well, he did it with proper management of players and fitting them perfectly into his system. Similarly, there is one USMNT player who could help him to achieve his goals. 

No, we are not talking about Christian Pulisic. Instead, remember when Pochettino had Dele Alli at Spurs? He took the player, put him in his favorite center-attacking midfield position, and reaped rewards. In the same way, Malik Tillman has the potential to burn. The PSV Eindhoven player looks amazing for the team by picking out the perfect passes for his teammates and scoring goals. Thus, Pochettino reflected his player profile to Dele Alli, during his time with Spurs. 

According to the USMNT Only Instagram handle, he gave his flowers to the talented new kid on the block. Pochettino mentioned, “The physiognomy of [Tillman] is similar to Dele Alli. Malik is an unbelievable talent.”

If you look at both players, they make effective runs down the middle to get on the end of a delicious cross. Otherwise, they could finish the ball in the back of the net, specifically. Pochettino has someone to build the team around and we feel Tillman fits the bill like a duck to water. 

Yet, he understands the competitive nature of Dele Alli and compared Tillman to the English soccer player. He continued, “Of course, Dele Alli was an animal, very competitive. He was unbelievable when he arrived at 17 years old from MK Dons. [It was] impossible to stop him. We are not talking about playing football, we’re talking about competing, killing everyone — teammates, opponents. Sometimes we needed to stop him and say, ‘Calm [down], we need to arrive in a good condition to play.’”

Mauricio Pochettino to create Dele Alli 2.0?

With Dele Alli becoming the X-factor for Tottenham Hotspur, Malik Tillman’s output could help the USMNT tackle their over-reliance on Pulisic for creativity. Nurturing talents becomes the key to unlocking the USMNT’s potential. In that sense, Pochettino detailed the plan for Tillman going forward. 

He continued, “If we talk about talent, maybe they have similar talent, but of course, they came from different backgrounds. Malik, we need to use our experience to try to challenge him to compete in this way. Because if Malik competed the way that Dele used to, for sure he has the capacity, the talent, the body, the power, everything. It’s true that he’s still young, and has a character that we need to help to express a little bit more. But he’s an unbelievable talent.”

Significantly, Tillman had 13 goals and 17 assists in 51 games for the side for PSV to date. Those numbers could keep improving if Pochettino could unlock the genius of Tillman in the coming years. Therefore, Pochettino has a player amongst his ranks to raise the bar. Hopefully, we see him playing with a smile on his face and boost the USMNT’s performances in the distant future.