Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood has claimed that he would not be afraid of marking James Maddison in a match having claimed that the summer signing does not possess lightning pace.
Maddison has had an impressive start to life in a Tottenham shirt following his move from Leicester City earlier this summer and already has two Premier League assists to his name following the 2-2 draw at Brentford on the opening weekend of the new campaign.
The 26-year-old followed it up with another solid display on Saturday evening in Spurs’ 2-0 win over Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and showed his ability when he left three United players for dead when he ghosted past Casemiro with a driving run into the opposition half to create a chance on goal for Ange Postecoglou‘s side.
Tim Sherwood claims James Maddison has not got pace
Sherwood told Premier League Productions: “Maddison there has just run past three players, and he’s not the quickest player in the world, but he has ability. He loves it there. The fans love a maverick player, he needs to be that maverick, but he needs to be consistent in his performances, he’s not at Leicester anymore, Norwich or Aberdeen, he’s at Tottenham now, and he’s going to be the main man,” Sherwood said.
“Maddison is obviously the icing on the cake, he has the guile, he has the awareness, if I see Maddison get on the ball I’m running, if I see Sarr on the ball I would try to create space for Maddison.
“I wouldn’t mind marking Maddison, because he wouldn’t hurt me with his movement and he hasn’t got pace. The other two would wear me down and keep going up and down.”
SpursWeb Opinion
Tim Sherwood must be forgetting that he was slower than Maddison during his career and did not possess half the skillset of the England international. Instead, he used to rely on the pace of the likes of Jason Wilcox and Stuart Ripley out wide during his Blackburn days to allow him space on the ball to make up for the fact he was often laboured in the middle of the park while in possession.
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