Hargreaves says one Spurs star needs to show ‘a little bit more care’ in possession

Owen Hargreaves has said that James Maddison should play with more care if he wants to drop deep and get on the ball inside Tottenham’s own half.

It can be argued that Tottenham’s performance at Craven Cottage was their worst of the Ange Postecoglou era, with the Spurs head coach admitting that it was the first time that he had seen his players even failing to compete with the opposition (Football London).

Almost all of the Spurs players delivered lacklustre displays, including Maddison, who was uncharacteristically quiet and ineffective.

The 27-year-old still had his moments though, firing just wide in the first half and then setting up Son Heung-min with another chance which the South Korean blazed over.

James Maddison needs to up his game, says Hargreaves

Hargreaves pointed out that the former Leicester man was continuing to drop deep during the clash since Yves Bissouma was struggling to get the ball to him, but he argued that the England international needed to show more care in possession.

The former Man Utd midfielder told Premier League Productions (18/03/24 at 5:20 pm): “He was a little bit careless with the ball, I would say, James Madison. On his day, he is brilliant – Bissouma gets the most touches and the most passes, so Bissouma is the one who gets Maddison the ball. It’s such a super important thing actually Pereira taking away Bissouma.

“James Maddison is waiting for Bissouma to get on the half-turn and then he is going to play him in – they (Fulham) would have had an eye on Maddison. This is what happens when you take away somebody’s space.

“I don’t mind him playing there for Tottenham (deeper in his own half). But when he plays there, he has to play with a little bit more care – you want to see him in his natural number 10 position, where I do think he is one of the best in the Premier League.”

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One could see that Maddison was getting quite frustrated about his lack of involvement in the game, which is why he decided to drop deep time and again to get on the ball.

That is a problem that could have potentially been solved if Bentancur had replaced Bissouma as the Urugwayan is much better at progressing the ball up the pitch.

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