Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino hails Dele Alli for keeping calm after Jonjo Shelvey stamp
The Spurs midfielder has had disciplinary problems of his own in the past but did not react to Shelvey's provocation
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Your support makes all the difference.Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has praised Dele Alli for keeping his cool following the clash which saw Newcastle captain Jonjo Shelvey sent off on Sunday.
Shelvey was dismissed early on in the second-half after stamping on the Spurs midfielder as he lay on the floor but Alli.
Crucially for Spurs, Alli, who has had disciplinary problems in the past, did not overreact and risk being sent off himself.
"He was calm - that's important," Pochettino said after the 2-0 win.
"Last season, we talked a lot about that, how we need to behave and improve and learn.
"He's mature enough now to accept sometimes what happens on the pitch, but he is so calm, he is so brave.
"Then he scored - and he scored a great goal - and I am very pleased. He needs to improve, he is not at his best expression, but it is coming."
Spurs made their one-man advantage pay, with Alli opening the scoring after latching onto Christian Eriksen's perfectly weighted cross.
Alli was then involved in Tottenham's second, with his chip around the corner allowing Harry Kane and then Eriksen to tee up Ben Davies for an easy finish into the corner.
Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez admitted Shelvey's moment of madness had cost his side any chance of emerging from a tough opening fixture with anything to show for their efforts, but insisted Harry Kane should have suffered a similar fate for a first-half challenge on debutant Florian Lejeune.
Asked if he felt let down by Shelvey, the Spaniard said: "It's not me, it's everyone. We have been talking about that for a while. He knows that he had made a mistake, he apologised, but still we lost the game.
"Also, I would like to say that the tackle from behind by Harry Kane I think was worse, but the rules are the rules and we paid for that."
Both Benitez and Pochettino are desperate to increase the strength of their respective squads during what remains of the transfer window with the Tottenham boss adamant he has to to meet the demands of a long season.
He said: "Always it's important to refresh the squad to create more competition between us, and then because it's so long - we have ahead 10 months are we are involved in four competitions, and the Champions League demands a lot of energy.
"We need more competition, more quality, more players who can help the team to keep the level that we want in every game."
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