Grealish always gets involved & wants the ball. There are many games where you wouldn’t notice Maddison playing. & he doesn’t look that interested in getting involved .
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Player James Maddison
- Thread starter kingdawson
- Start date
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Has barely been close to his best since injury and should be playing much further forward. It doesn't help that centrally we're too congested, and that one of our best central players (Sonny) is hanging out on the touchline.
I don't think he's washed, but his freedom and space to play (as with Sonny) is being neutralized. Not to mention there's barely a soul making a decent run into the box.
I don't think he's washed, but his freedom and space to play (as with Sonny) is being neutralized. Not to mention there's barely a soul making a decent run into the box.
The demeanour of a guy that finally got his big move and knows he is never going to get dropped regardless of performance.
This was the James Maddison I thought we were signing tbh. Which is why the pre season and the beginning of last season form I saw shocked me a fair bit.
A shame because that James Maddison was on course for being played of the year. He was that good.
This was the James Maddison I thought we were signing tbh. Which is why the pre season and the beginning of last season form I saw shocked me a fair bit.
A shame because that James Maddison was on course for being played of the year. He was that good.
There's a direct correlation between Madder's form and us winning games. He's that important.
I think the tactics mean the opposition are playing on the counter making it really congested around their box and nullifying any space for him to pull the strings.
The slow speed in transition isn’t helping either the eon we’re taking to progress it up the pitch with all the sideways passing.
All the noises coming from him upon signing were that of a talisman; someone that wanted to be the main man.... His first 10 games reflected that...... Energetic, hungry for the ball, making things happen.... And it's not as if he was an unknown quantity to oppo coaches.
Regardless of what one may choose to infer about his character/workrate; right now we're just not seeing a player with vision..... Just a skinny, lightweight bloke bopping around as a box-to-box-er.
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Agreed. And there's no direct replacement, it's the same as when Eriksen was off form and we looked awful because there was no replacement for him, or someone that could temporarily fill his shoes.
He knows he is pretty much undroppable, there's no competition for his place.
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One of our best performances last season was Newcastle at home when Maddison wasn't even in the squad.
In fact, there were a fair few games without Maddison where we looked relatively good and our offensive cohesion fell off a cliff when Maddison came back into the team. For example, Porro stepped up creatively when Madders was out. And as soon as Maddison came back in, Porros creative output snowballed.
Maybe, if anything, his performances are hindering us. I reckon we'd honestly look better right now if we had Bergvall in there instead of him.
If this guy is supposed to be your creativity in midfield you're in deep trouble.
That Newcastle game (and the Villa game) are the two massive outliers in back block of fixtures we played after that initial 10. Maddison was unplayable in those games, less so after. The bulk of his goals and assists were in that chunk of games. When he went, so did our form. Mostly.
Newcastle at home Trippier was absolutely destroyed by Son.
He's got two assists so far this season, but he definitely needs to feel he's under threat. But what will happen is Bergvall will start on Wednesday, and when he doesn't create or score Ange will consider that to have been his chance, and Madders will come back in.
We were generally massively disrupted from that point (in terms of bans and injuries)... Missing Romero, VDV, Biss, Bentancur and others throughout that stint too.
"Research conducted for more than 20 years by the Premier Injuries website, external suggests that the total number of individual injuries across the league, where a player missed at least one Premier League game, was the highest they [Spurs] had recorded."
"In their worst-hit week, Postecoglou had nine players absent"
Tottenham: How did Premier League injuries rank?
Tottenham: How did Premier League injuries rank?
www.bbc.co.uk
This merely illustrates that in the absence of any one single player; others (especially senior members of the squad) should rightfully step up.
Sickeningly our home games against Villa & WHam were 2 more of our other best performances of the season and we came away with 2 losses.
That's a rather fatalistic assumption...... Are you suggesting you'd rather not see Bergvall get a shot?
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Right now he's a nice, tidy player who keeps the ball ticking and wriggles out of pressure a few times per game, not anything like the creative hub he has been for periods in his career. Does 't look like scoring, creating, or even knitting together any kind of obvious threat. Injury prone player. Not really pulling his weight for most of this calendar year.
Its certainly an odd one.
I honestly believe for close to 2 months after Maddison got injured against Chelsea, our performances in terms of being brave on the ball and wanting to attack didn't really dip that much (we just weren't as effective at both ends of the pitch due to the absentees). The players were somewhat still brave in their play and others stepped up tremendously.
But then Maddison returned and it all sort of went abit "in their shell". When Maddison was out, Porro got 6 assists in the 10 games he missed. When he returned, Porro didn't manage a single assist for the rest of the season...
Was almost like when he was out of the team, we were still brave knowing the others had to step up. When he came back in, we all looked to him to be that creative force.
I know it's just pre season but even in pre season this year we always looked braver when he was off the pitch and had been replaced by someone else. Both Bayern games as examples when Bergvall replaced him.
We lost about six games in his absence.
We then lost another six towards the end of the season when he came back, but most were teams above us in the table (plus Newcastle) as well as our annual rolling over for Chelsea. He either wasn't fit or didn't believe he was fit because that turn of pace he showed was gone.
probably sick of this shit system.
Performances were alot better than when he returned though. By the time he returned, we were basically at full strength.
We lost four without him. And these were three of them:
Wolves (a) - No Romero, no Van de Ven, no Udogie, no Bentancur. No Maddison. Dier starting at centre back. No striker
Villa (h) - Emerson and Davies at CB. No Maddison. Bryan Gil at left wing. No striker.
Brighton (A) - Emerson and Davies at CB. No Bissouma, Maddison or Bentancur.
It's why it's a bit odd. What we saw at the back end of last season was nothing like what we saw at the front end. The movement from the whole team had gone. They weren't brave in their play, they lacked belief. Maddison was a big part of that.
And the sad thing is, he seems undroppable. He was actually good against both Leicester and Everton. He wasn't bad against Newcastle, still blaming him for their winner though. And he was abysmal against Woolwich. Sort of performance that should see him dropped for Brentford to let him know standards can't slip.
I didn't think he was that bad yesterday tbh, just the one time when the ball came to him on the edge and he passed wide left when he should have shot.
Not that I don't agree that his form hasn't exactly been stellar but we have far bigger concerns than Maddison right now.
A keeper that can't defend his 6 yard box at set pieces
Defenders getting caught high up the pitch time and time again sometimes in kamikaze fashion and having to be bailed out by Micky VDV's pace.
Ineffectual wingers in Werner, BJ, Son, Odabert.
Bentancur and Kulu never returning to the players they were in their breakout season.
Bissouma huffing gas and never being able to get a good consistent run of games under his belt.
Sick note Richarlison.
Sarr and Udogie playing well below their best.
And a couple of high profile youth signings that it appears Ange doesn't even trust to bring on.
Not that I don't agree that his form hasn't exactly been stellar but we have far bigger concerns than Maddison right now.
A keeper that can't defend his 6 yard box at set pieces
Defenders getting caught high up the pitch time and time again sometimes in kamikaze fashion and having to be bailed out by Micky VDV's pace.
Ineffectual wingers in Werner, BJ, Son, Odabert.
Bentancur and Kulu never returning to the players they were in their breakout season.
Bissouma huffing gas and never being able to get a good consistent run of games under his belt.
Sick note Richarlison.
Sarr and Udogie playing well below their best.
And a couple of high profile youth signings that it appears Ange doesn't even trust to bring on.
I'm not having him.
might be a blessing really. could damage the poor kids playing in this system.