Karl Robinson has hit back at Roy Keane’s criticism of Tottenham playmaker Dele Alli.
The former Manchester United skipper was critical of the midfielder after his side were beaten by Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
Keane was particularly critical of Alli’s activities away from football and accused the England international of ‘thinking he had already made it’.
But Robinson, who managed and handed Alli his football league debut aged 16 for MK Dons, believes his off-field antics have nothing to do with his dip in form but it is instead all to do with burnout.
“You’ve got to understand that everyone is surmising here, everyone is presuming things,” the current MK boss told talkSPORT on Tuesday afternoon.
“Sometimes it can be taken out of context, people are paid to make a judgement on the game and the way it goes, but everything else is hearsay.
“I know him personally and the one thing I put down to a bit of a lack of performance is that this very young boy has played professional football since the age of 15 or 16, and he didn’t have any major injuries.
“But over the last 12 months he’s had one or two hamstring issues and a different bits and bobs, because of overplaying.
“I think one thing we’re all forgetting about these young England players is, when are these kids going to get time off?
“Let’s start having a look at the programme, let’s start having a look at the amount of minutes they’re playing, because I think Dele is suffering more from fatigue rather than the things he’s doing away from the game. He’s not had any time off whatsoever.
“To win Young Player of the Year for two years on the spin, he’s an exceptional talent.
“He might have lost his way, I don’t know and I can’t comment on that, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and put it down to the amount of football he’s played.
“Our young players are getting flogged because of how intense the Premier League is, it’s the most intense league in the world, and then you put the European games and England games on top of that.
“I think that’s more of an issue, and more of a deep-rooted issue than just with Del.”
