Even when coming back from a year out injured, James Maddison showed he has what Tottenham are missing in absolute spades.
Avoiding relegation must be Tottenham’s only concern and number one priority.
While their 1-1 draw with Leeds United puts them a point further in the zero-sum game that is Spurs’ quest for Premier League survival, at this stage of the season, the result of every fixture could put the relegation battle on its head and spell disaster for the club.
Spurs will therefore need all the help they can possibly get, and despite the subpar result at home, they received a massive boost in the form of the return of James Maddison from his ACL injury.
Even though Maddison’s short cameo was not able to alter the result, the midfielder’s immediate impact on the pitch was clear as daylight and completely changed the tactical makeup of the game’s closing stages. Here’s how.
How Tottenham approached the game against Leeds
To better understand how Maddison impacted play when he finally made his long-awaited appearance, we should probably understand what the rhythm of play was before he was substituted on.
In terms of their out-of-possession approach, Spurs approached the game against Leeds with a very similar hybrid pressing system they used in their game against Aston Villa, which means that De Zerbi is sticking to his word when he said he doesn’t want to introduce too much new instruction for the players between games.
On the other side, Leeds used a typical man-to-man press. The match quickly settled into Spurs establishing early settled possession against Leeds, but due to the 1v1 duels all over the pitch and lack of quality to get out of pressure and beat their man, Tottenham struggled to progress the ball in dangerous ways.
But while De Zerbi’s pressing game paid dividends in their game against Villa, Leeds quickly abandoned their buildup phase and were content to simply punch the ball up the field to force Spurs into further 1v1 duels when competing for second balls.
So, even with a lion’s share of the possession in the early stages of the match, Spurs regardless had to rely on dead-ball situations to create their chances, which is in the end how they managed to score their only goal.
After Spurs opened the scoring, the game naturally opened up somewhat, and the somewhat chaotic nature of play that followed suited Spurs and allowed them to create more chances.
On a different day, Spurs manage to put away one of the openings they created, but alas, Mathys Tel’s penalty shout in the 70th minute again completely changed the tactical makeup of the game.
Until that moment, actually, Spurs’ in possession approach and more patient buildup allowed to put in a very solid defensive performance, limiting Leeds’ chances to a bare minimum, even the penalty conceded by Spurs resulted from a completely needless mistake by Tel, who was competing for the ball on the edge of the penalty box.
But unfortunately, a football match is never really just tactics, and after conceding Spurs again fell back into a pattern they’ve been guilty of all year, that is, of not being able to respond to setbacks with a cool head.
For the ten minutes of play that followed the Calvert-Lewin penalty, Spurs lost all control over the match, which turned, as De Zerbi called it, “frenetic”.
The truth is, that Spurs’ lack of technical ability, their squad not being used to the heightened emotions and anxieties of a real relegation scrap but also their desire to win and make something happen, means that in moments when they should look to slow the game down and exert control over the ball, the players instead make hectic decisions leading to cheap losses of possession, fruitless attacks and the ball coming back at them even quicker.
It was only when James Maddison finally made his appearance in the 85th minute that we finally saw the balance of play shift towards Spurs again.
James Maddison and the difference he makes
We finally get to James Maddison’s and his 25-minute cameo, which showed how desperately Tottenham missed both his technical ability and personality.
Even when not fully fit or sharp from not having played a competitive game in more than a year and a half, Maddison was able to take charge of the game for Spurs and slow down the proceedings to his pace.
A lot of that has to do with his personality and his desire to dictate the tempo of the game. So far this season, when faced with adversarial situations Spurs have had no one to rely on to give structure to their possession and create a gamestate which would actually suit Spurs again.
Maddison needed a few minutes to get his first touch in the game, which came in the 89th minute, but what he did after revealed his intentions
After winning back possession in a 50-50 against a Leeds player, Maddison plays a short pass to Spence. Maddison then gets the ball back and decides to play a simple one-two pass with Lucas Bergvall. He looks up to see if there is a crossing option on, but seeing none and not wanting to risk losing possession…
…he just decides to run back infield. For the entire duration of the season, Tottenham Hotspur had no player available who had the confidence and assertiveness to slow down their attacks.
And his decision immediately pays off, because after Leeds players packed the left side of the pitch to make life difficult for buildup on that side, space freed up on the right side, and Pedro Porro was able to find RKM on the edge of the box with a straight pass, which then allowed the winger to drive into the box and win a corner.
All of Maddison’s following impact on the game was focused on creating an opening for Spurs but not at the cost of losing possession.
He demanded the ball at every opportunity he had…
…and showed that bit of technical flair which Spurs were missing since Xavi Simons’ injury.
Maddison’s desire to control Spurs’ posession shows even more clearly on the heatmap of his touches. Maddison was happy to drift all over the pitch in search of space or to relieve pressure.
Could Maddison still be Spurs’ saviour?
Maddison did nearly receive the hero’s return when he probably should have won a penalty for Tottenham in the 113th minute.
While Spurs still continue to receive the short end of the stick with the refereeing decisions, as VAR refused to look at the incident for more than 20 seconds, it’s easy to understate the impact that James Maddison had on the game against Leeds.
If Tottenham can count on his services in their upcoming fixtures, he could be the one player to guarantee Spurs’ survival in the Premier League.
The upcoming game against Chelsea is likely to be more transitional, and there could be fewer consequences for Spurs in not playing a technical player like Maddison. However, against Everton, Spurs will likely have to show some creativity and control again to break down an organised side, so James Maddison could still be the hero they need.
- READ MORE: Former referee says James Maddison could be ‘fined or suspended’ for Tottenham penalty comments