Dele: "We have to stay strong"

Dele Alli cut a despondent figure after our FA Cup semi-final defeat against Manchester United.

He couldn't hide his emotions after opening the scoring but seeing United hit back to win 2-1.

We started so brightly at Wembley. We’d had efforts at goal before that 11th-minute opener and after, Harry Kane just failed to connect with Heung-Min Son’s cross and Christian Eriksen fired inches wide.

As Dele alludes to below, the game changed when United equalised out of nowhere through Alexis Sanchez on 24 minutes. It was more even after that, Eric Dier struck the post but when United forged ahead through Ander Herrera on 62 minutes the play became stop-start and we couldn’t find the fluency we started with. Christian drilled wide from distance but we couldn’t carve out a clear-cut chance as United defended deep.

“At 1-0 up with our fans how they were, we can't let that happen.

“We’re so disappointed because we started so well. We’d be annoyed in a different way if they’d taken the lead and dominated but we started well, dominated possession and felt comfortable.

“Everything we planned was working, we went 1-0 up but when they scored, everything switched around. They then scored the second and when you are 2-1 down against a team like that it’s difficult to turn it around.

"We want to win and it’s disappointing when we lose. We have to improve and learn from it again. We have to keep going and stay strong.

“We've such a talented team, our manager is amazing and we all want to win. The fans deserve it as well.

“We have to pick ourselves up now and finish the season in the top four.”