James Maddison ‘angry’ with Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham after snub v Liverpool
Tottenham midfielder James Maddison will be “angry” and “upset” with Ange Postecoglou having been left out of the starting XI against Liverpool, according to Alan Hutton.
The England international started the season in excellent form following his summer switch from Leicester City but has struggled to make an impact in recent weeks, with Postecoglou dropping him to the bench.
In defeats against Chelsea and Liverpool, the 27-year-old played less than 30 minutes of football and even when he was introduced at Anfield he struggled to leave his mark on the game as he failed to fashion a single scoring chance.
While Hutton thinks Maddison will be “annoyed” having been snubbed in recent weeks, he doesn’t think he will be the only player angry in the Spurs changing room and has urged the team to up their performance level.
“I don’t think it will just be him,” Hutton told Tottenham News
“I think any player that is left out at this stage, you’re going to be angry, upset or however you want to put it. The manager picks the team that he thinks is capable of going out and winning the game.
“If he doesn’t see Maddison doing that at this moment in time, it’s all about buying your time, training hard and trying to force your way back into the team. That’s just the case for every player, I was no different.
“You want to play every minute of every game you’re annoyed when you don’t. They’ve conceded something like 13 goals in four games, you’re chasing the top four and you’ve had the worst dip of the campaign so it will be interesting to see what he does in the next game.
“They’ll look to win that and they’ve also got Manchester City which they need to win and that’s not an easy game. It’s not been ideal recently.”
Will Ange Postecoglou start James Maddison for Tottenham showdown v Burnley?
Maddison is capable of turning a game on its head with a single pass or a clever drop of the shoulder, but in recent weeks, Spurs fans have just not seen enough quality from the midfielder.
Postecoglou is blessed with plenty of attacking talent in North London, with the likes of Son Heung-min, Brennan Johnson, Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski all enjoying reasonable seasons under the Australia’s management.
While that depth is a blessing, it also means that players are going to be rested and rotated in and out of the starting XI. At the moment, Maddison is the player who has had to pay the price at Spurs.
Whether that will remain the case against Burnley remains to be seen, but it is clear that Postecoglou has to try and do something to breathe new life into this team as their Champions League hopes fade away.
In other Tottenham news, the door is now open for Spurs to complete a summer transfer for Chelsea star Conor Gallagher
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