Ange Postecoglou has explained that he felt Tottenham needed more legs in the middle of the park against Chelsea, which was why he had left out James Maddison.
Since returning from his injury lay-off, Maddison has struggled to recapture the form he showed at the start of the season.
One can argue that Tottenham’s struggles going forward over the last few months are down to the attacking midfielder’s poor form, with the Lilywhites reliant on him to provide the creativity.
It was reported by The Athletic earlier this week that the feeling at Spurs is that Maddison is almost trying too hard to impress, with some feeling that the former Leicester man is too keen to make a statement to ensure he earns a spot in the England squad for the Euros.
Why did Postecoglou bench James Maddison?
Postecoglou decided to bench the England international and start Dejan Kulusevski in the number ten role at Stamford Bridge but the move did not have the desired effect.
Maddison did come on for Pape Matar Sarr on 63 minutes but he failed to have much influence on the game as the home side emerged 2-0 winners.
When asked why he left the 27-year-old out of the starting eleven, Postecoglou told Football.London: I thought we needed to freshen up the team. I thought we needed some legs today as they’ve obviously got a real mobile and quick front three/four.
“I just felt we needed some legs in the midfield. With Biss and Pape coming in, and Deki, I thought it would help us. Fair to say it didn’t work though.”
Spurs Web Opinion
One cannot argue against the decision to drop Maddison as the attacking midfielder has been quite poor of late but one does feel that Ange is at times quite slow to make the changes.
I personally felt he could have brought on Lo Celso a lot sooner than he did. I am of the opinion that the Argentine now deserves a run in the side to show what he can do.
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