Ange Postecoglou said that everybody would love to be as self-assured as James Maddison, not least some of his other players at Tottenham, as he reflected on the vice-captain’s importance to the collective.
It felt as though Maddison had a point to prove at Manchester City last weekend when he returned to the XI after two Premier League matches as a substitute and he proved it, scoring the first two goals in the 4-0 win.
Maddison was typically to-the-point in his post-match assessment, saying that if he went through “tough spells of having two games out, I’m at the age now where I’m able to go and show you that this team is much better with me in it”.
In other words, he was not happy to have been on the bench against Aston Villa and Ipswich; he had come on in the former to score with a free-kick to seal the 4-1 victory. Spurs, who host Fulham on Sunday, lost 2-1 against Ipswich.
“Yeah, I get that [Maddison was unhappy] but at the same time, I’m not in the happiness business,” Postecoglou said. “They are all here to help us be successful whether you’re playing or not because sometimes when you come on for 10 minutes you can help us change a course of our season.
“For me, you’re a member of this squad. No one is guaranteed anything. I don’t say to players: ‘You are going to play 55 games.’ It’s unlikely anyone will do that; in fact no one will. So if he misses a couple of games … he’s disappointed, that’s fine. What I am looking at is when you do play make your biggest possible impact and that’s what he did.”
Maddison’s confidence always shines through, whether on the pitch or in interviews. Remember his famous line about wanting to be the “main man”, even at family roast dinners.
“I don’t think he puts that on,” Postecoglou said. “He is genuine in that. He does have enormous self-belief, which is a great thing to have in life. We all want to have that self-confidence in whatever area we are involved in. He wants to be the catalyst for things. The challenge for Madders and all these guys is to turn that into a positive force where the team benefits as much as he does individually.
“I’m trying to give room for this team to grow and the individuals within it to grow and make more of an impact on each other as much as themselves. There are probably guys in the team who would love to have Madders’ self-belief in their own game and he can help in that area. His season has been pretty decent. He had a little bit of a flat spot, I think we did as a team as well, but he’s in a good space.”
Postecoglou omitted Maddison against Villa after the 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in the preceding league match when he and Dejan Kulusevski had started in central attacking midfield roles. Kulusevski has been Spurs’ player of the season and as such he is undroppable. Postecoglou reintegrated Maddison against City by moving Kulusevski to the right wing and it will be interesting to see where he plays the Sweden international against Fulham.
Postecoglou reported that Cristian Romero was unlikely to return from toe and hamstring problems on Sunday, although he did not definitively rule out the centre-half.