Alli hooked among four Tottenham half-time changes, Bale soon follows

Dele Alli’s return to Tottenham’s starting line-up lasted just 45 minutes as Jose Mourinho made four half-time changes at Royal Antwerp on Thursday.

Alli had been restored to the first XI for the first time in over a month but was among a quartet of players to make way after a dismal first half in the Europa League group-stage clash.

Giovani Lo Celso, Steven Bergwijn and Carlos Vinicius were all also substituted, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Erik Lamela, Lucas Moura and Son Heung-min introduced.

Gareth Bale made way before the hour-mark with no immediate improvement in attack as Harry Kane was called for.

Spurs trailed 1-0 to Antwerp after Lior Refaelov’s first-half strike following an error at the back from Ben Davies.

46 – Coco comes on.

@ErikLamela
@dele_official #UEL #COYS pic.twitter.com/Fo6ENMVeLm

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 29, 2020

Tottenham had offered precious little going the other way, mustering seven shots – all from outside the box.

Alli, who is yet to play more than an hour in a match this season, completed an underwhelming 74.2 per cent of his passes and won neither of his duels while failing to register a tackle, clearance or interception.

The England midfielder created one of the seven speculative efforts in attack.

Bale had two attempts but failed to hit the target and did not create a single chance.