I think Dele Alli was not the type of player who creates, passes but I think a positioning-type of player to find space and attack the goal. And that requires less attention to be drawn towards him. Unfortunately, media hype, his goal tally, and tactic changes has put a halt to his own development and his performances on the pitch. And I don't think Dele Alli had worked on changing his game throughout the years. Many players change their game over the course of their career. Maybe Alli was attempting to change his game but it just not working out.
From his time with us, out of necessity, we needed a box-to-box as that is when Everton at their best (last season) and Dele Alli was never that type of player. Alli is the type of player that plays better if the tactics revolves around exploiting his best assets, but I think most coaches still could not really pinpoint how to utilise his best attributes - I don't think Dele Alli knows either.