James Maddison has emerged as one of the leaders in this Tottenham Hotspur team this season. Stats show the experienced midfielder has been one of the most exciting and productive senior members of the team, with 10 goals and 7 assists in all competitions, one goal behind Brennan Johnson and Son Heung-Min.
Maddison, Tottenham’s vice captain along with Cristian Romero, is often viewed as a spokesperson for the squad in media appearances. James gave an interview posted today in Sky Sports where he talked about the season so far, the recent come from behind draw against Bournemouth, and Tottenham’s hopeful Europa League campaign ahead of tomorrow’s critical second leg fixture against AZ Alkmaar.
Maddison was asked about Tottenham’s horrific injury crisis earlier in the season and how it impacted the playing squad, and he was clear that of course it was a factor in why Spurs struggled around the turn of the year.
“Well it’s a massive factor, and I don’t want to sound like I’m making loads of excuses, but when you have such a long period of time in the busiest part of the year where you miss (Guglielmo) Vicario, (Cristian) Romero, (Micky) Van de Ven, (Destiny) Udogie, (Dominic) Solanke, Richarlison for long periods, not just one game or two games, it is a defining factor.
“Of course, we’re not naive to not look in the mirror and think that we could have been better here, we could have been better there. Performances in certain games maybe could have been better, but it is a defining factor and it’s been a tough year for setbacks with injuries at this club. It’s just factual.
“Over that Christmas period when the Premier League picks up a little bit and we had the Carabao Cup semi-final, which is two legs and just a lot of games with the new European format as well with eight games in the group. It’s a lot of football and you need your squad for that and we didn’t have that.
“The one blessing that it kind of created was the fact that we got exposure to the young lads and the lads who hadn’t played as much, so the likes of Djed (Spence) got his opportunity and he’s been phenomenal. Lucas (Bergvall) and Archie (Gray) have come in as 18-year-olds and played a lot of football, more than probably what the manager and the club had hoped for their transition into the first team, but that’ll leave them in good stead.
“It’s tough as a senior player. I only missed a couple of weeks, but for the lads like Romero, I know who the type of person he is, and Van de Ven, and Vic (Vicario), like I said, the names I listed, senior players who missed months and it’s tough. Any footballer will tell you it’s so tough because you can’t help, you have to watch on the sideline and it kills you inside.”
Maddison knows the importance of the Europa League in what has been a very disappointing Premier League season. But Spurs do have an opportunity, if a slim one, to progress through, or even win, the Europa League which would send Spurs into Champions League competition next season. Maddison said the team recognizes that opportunity and that will factor in to how the team approaches tomorrow’s game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“Yeah, we know what it means to us, the fans, everyone, we’re all on the same page. The first leg obviously wasn’t good enough, tough conditions on a tough pitch to play the way we want to play, but it’s only 1-0, they’ve got to come to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and if the fans get behind us and have the place rocking like we know they can.”
“I think [the fans] have been brilliant, especially in Europe as well, the midweek ones are tough in the middle of the week because people have lives and jobs and kids, I know all that, it doesn’t go unappreciated and unnoticed. So just more of that, more of what we’ve seen in Europe so far.
“I remember the game we played against them [AZ Alkmaar] in the group stage. We were doing pretty well, I captained the side and the atmosphere was brilliant that night, we won 1-0. We’re going to need more of that and we need to give them something to shout about and the lads are going to be up for it and we’re going to start fast and hopefully we can get the job done.
“The manager always speaks about how it can still be special for us if we win that, and we’re in a good position to do that. Listen, we’ve got work to do in the second leg but we know we’re capable of that and we can turn it around, there’s no one in there doubting the fact that we can do that. But we have to go and do it, talk is one thing, we have to go and win the game and turn over the defeat of the first leg. You win that and you pick up a bit of momentum, you’re in the quarter-final and then it can still be a special season for us. That’s what we’re hoping for and that’s what we’re striving for.”
Tottenham kick off against AZ Alkmaar tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. UK at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs carry a 1-0 aggregate deficit into the second leg, and will need at least a two goal win to assure progression to the quarterfinals of the competition.