James Maddison was taken off in the 84th minute during Tottenham’s 1-1 draw with Fulham
Tottenham have endured an up-and-down season thus far, mixing a few incredible performances with some frustrating defeats and results.
The 1-1 draw with London rivals Fulham at home at the weekend was no different, although one would argue that Ange Postecoglou’s squad was severely depleted. The Greek-Australian head coach is doing his best to take the Lilywhites to the top, but injuries have not helped him. He has had to do without several players since the start of the campaign, and that has cost his side dearly.
Due to a glut of injuries to key first-team players, Ange Postecoglou had to make some bold decisions during the game against Fulham. And one of those was to substitute James Maddison in the 84th minute—only a minute after the Cottagers’ skipper Tom Cairney was sent off for a reckless challenge on Dejan Kulusevski after a VAR review.
Ex-Spurs scout Bryan King was perplexed with Big Ange’s decision to take off James Maddison late on for Lucas Bergvall. He had no idea how Bergvall was going to make an impact for the home side when the score was level at 1-1 on Sunday.
A lot has been spoken about Maddison’s form and whether he is helping Spurs maintain their balance and shape this season. The English playmaker responded to his critics in style on his 28th birthday, scoring a brace in the 4-0 rout of Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
However, he wasn’t at his sublime best against Fulham at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, failing to influence the game with his incisive passing and vision. Yet, with the score level at 1-1 and the visitors just losing their skipper Cairney, who also scored a smashing equaliser, Big Ange missed a trick by removing Maddison from the pitch.
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Whether the playmaker got tired or was Big Ange managing his fitness levels isn’t known yet owing to a busy fixture list coming up, but Tottenham would have had a better chance to win the contest late on had Maddison remained on the pitch.