Tottenham Hotspur are preparing for a blockbuster showdown against Manchester City on Tuesday night with all sorts on the line.
This is Spurs’ final home game of the campaign and their chance to try and maintain their Champions League hopes – but they could also had the advantage to Arsenal in the Premier League title race if they win.
Rewind back to the start of the season, Ange Postecoglou’s men made a blistering start when they earned 26 points from their opening ten matches.
At that time, people were thinking more than just a top-four battle for Tottenham because they were flying high at the top of the Premier League table.
Then that 4-1 defeat at home to Chelsea brought everything crashing down. From sending-offs for Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie to injuries to Micky van de Ven and James Maddison.
One of the key men for the London club, at that time, was Maddison and the brilliant start he made to his Spurs career following his summer transfer from Leicester City.
The 27-year-old had five assists and three goals in his opening 11 games, but since then, he has only managed one goal and three assists.
Maddison returned to the XI for Tottenham’s 2-1 win against Burnley on Saturday, with Paul Merson praising his performance.
But the forward-turned-pundit did highlight how teams are now targeting the playmaker because he has ‘earned the respect’, as he told Sky Sports News (11/05/24 at 5:30 pm).
There was also talk about whether Maddison will make England’s squad for Euro 2024 because there is serious competition ahead of him.
James Maddison’s form for Tottenham
“You know what? He did alright,” said Merson about Maddison’s performance against Burnley.
“He did well at certain times of the game and he had a nice little five-minute spell when he did some nice stuff. The thing now is, earlier on in the season, he was getting the ball on the half-turn, he was going bang and he was putting it through. He is not getting the runners anymore. The runners are not there anymore, no one is making those runs. People look tired, and when you play where he plays, you are so, so, so reliant on people in front of you. You are only as good as the people in front of you.
“Maybe the people in front of you are saying they are only as good as the people behind you. But, at the moment, they don’t have those runners anymore that they used to have. I think he has struggled there. He has earned the respect of, people pick him up now. They say ‘stop Maddison playing and we will stop Tottenham playing’. This is what I say about Cole Palmer next season, you have to come up with solutions and find different ways. You have to scan and you to think ‘what do I do before this ball comes’. That’s all he has to do next season. But 26 players (England can pick for Euro 2024). You never know, he has a chance. Surely he has a chance.”
James Maddison next season
Ian Wright recently touched upon a worrying trend with Maddison and how it stems from his days at Leicester.
No one can doubt his talents. He has it all in his locker. But there is a trend of him starting the season well, getting injured and then his form falling off towards the end.
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Tottenham will be back in Europe next term, so he has to prove that he can cope with an entire season of taking hit after hit, whilst playing 50+ matches.
Plus, he is the only Tottenham player who can make the ball talk in the final third and those pockets like he does, so it’s even more important that he stays fit.