James Maddison was one of Tottenham Hotspur’s few positives in their 6-3 defeat against Liverpool.
When Arne Slot’s side were leading 2-0, James Maddison gave Spurs a ray of hope with a wonderful strike from outside the box.
But ultimately, Tottenham felt flat against Liverpool as the Englishman’s efforts were deemed inconsequential.
Jamie Carragher felt Arne Slot’s ploy against Ange Postecoglou was to praise his attacking tactics in his press conference to entice the Australian to set up in such a manner, allowing his Liverpool side to feast on their defensive deficiencies.
But throughout the contest, it seemed like Maddison alongside Dejan Kulusevski were the only two players who could help the hosts get back into the contest against Liverpool.
Gary Neville slated Heung-min Son’s display against Liverpool as several of the Lilywhites’ big names let themselves down on Sunday. After the contest, Maddison was reflecting on the reasons why Ange Postecoglou’s side were well beaten by the visitors.
James Maddison tells Tottenham fans the players are hurt after Liverpool defeat
The former Leicester City midfielder initially told SPURSPLAY that the whole host of injuries that Tottenham have suffered are impacting their displays, as was the case against Liverpool.
Maddison said: “Busy physio room at the minute, with senior players, big experienced players that are in there. On nights like this against the top opposition, that is invaluable really, the seniority of players and experience of Premier League big games like this.”
“But credit to our young lads who are stepping up and lads who haven’t played. I don’t want to sound like I am making excuses but Djed [Spence] only started his first Premier League last week, Archie [Gray] is 18, we bought him from the Championship, Radu [Dragusin] didn’t play a lot of football last year in the Premier League, Frase [Fraser Forster] has come in with Vic [Guglielmo Vicario] out.”
“There are a lot of lads who I am proud of who keep going out because we are rolling out the same team every game at the minute because we play every three days and the squad’s quite depleted.”
Maddison went out of his way to inform Tottenham fans that it is not just them who are gutted after their sobering defeat to Liverpool but the players and the club as a whole.
“We will all keep going, we will stick together. I feel for the fans but I want them to know that it hurts us as well. Results like that don’t just hurt supporters, they hurt the club on a whole.”
What are Tottenham’s next five Premier League fixtures after Liverpool defeat?
Tottenham will be looking to move on swiftly after their defeat to Liverpool.
At the end of the day, Spurs were not expected to beat what is arguably the best team in the world.
However, Tottenham supporters will be expecting Maddison to lead his side to beat the likes of Nottingham Forest, Wolves, Newcastle United and Everton.
The North London Derby is sandwiched between this run of fixtures, a game where Ange Postecoglou will have no reason to motivate his players as the magnitude of the clash needs no introduction and where form goes out of the window in any case.