Former Tottenham striker Gary Lineker has thrown a theory out there that Ange Postecoglou may have fallen out with one of his key players, following Sunday’s 2-2 Premier League draw with Bournemouth.
Spurs came from 2-0 down to earn a point against the high-flying Cherries in north London, with Pape Sarr and a Son Heung-min penalty cancelling out impressive strikes from Marcus Tavernier and Evanilson for the impressive visitors.
Indeed, Tottenham were outplayed for large parts of the match, especially in the first half, with Postecoglou opting to change up his side ahead of Thursday’s Europa League last-16 second-leg clash with AZ.
There was a welcome return for centre-back Cristian Romero but the Argentine looked incredibly rusty and almost gave a goal within 20 seconds of his comeback before being replaced by Micky van de Ven on the hour mark.
However, it was the surprise exclusion of James Maddison that left Lineker baffled, with Tottenham having no creativity in the middle of the part in the absence of the injured Dejan Kulusevski.
Maddison ended up replacing Rodrigo Bentancur just minutes before Bournemouth grabbed their second, but he at least gave the Spurs midfield some spark as Postecoglou’s men fought back to earn a point.
But speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, Lineker wondered if there may have been some kind of fall out between Maddison and Postecoglou to explain his absence – especially given that the former Leicester man has been in and out of the side for much of the season.
Lineker began: “Maddison, late coming off the bench again. And when he comes on he always looks the part and played some really good football.
“I’m at a bit of a loss at what’s happened there this season. I wonder whether there’s been a bit of a fall out or…”
Shearer them responded: “What have you heard, Micah?”, with Richards adding: “Nope, I’ve not heard anything from Maddison. I think they’ve got the game in Europe, haven’t they?”
Lineker then ended the conversation: “Maybe, maybe he’s thinking of that.”
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Maddison questions need to be asked
And while there could well be something in not risking Maddison ahead of the AZ clash, the fact that he has been on and off the bench all season does suggest there could be an underlying issue there.
The 28-year-old has struggled with injury issues since his move to north London, but has been fully fit of late and has scored 10 goals in 35 games in all competitions this season, adding seven assists. He has, however, made 12 of his 35 appearances off the bench – failing to get a regular run of starts under his belt.
Postecoglou opted to start the trio of Sarr, Bentancur and Yves Bissouma on Sunday, a combination that rarely works and also leaves Tottenham severely short of creativity.
That changed when Lucas Bergvall and then Maddison entered the fray, with both players almost certain to start in Europe and what is now Spurs’ biggest game of the season. Indeed, the result against AZ could also play a significant part in what the future holds for Postecoglou too.
The familiar issues that have bugged Tottenham all season under Postecoglou were there for all to see again against the Cherries, with poor passing when playing out from the back and getting caught in possession deep in their own half so nearly costing goals.
It does raise the question about how those things are executed in training when they are generally done so poorly in games, which only leads back to one thing – poor coaching methods.
There were positives from Sunday’s draw though, with Van de Ven getting 30 minutes under his belt and Bergvall bouncing back from his disastrous own goal in Holland to turn the game back in Tottenham’s favour.
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