View: Postecoglou must axe Tottenham star despite 91% display v West Ham, dubbed ‘Passenger’

Ange Postecoglou must drop James Maddison from the Tottenham starting XI despite the midfielder grabbing an assist in the win against West Ham United.

Spurs came from behind to beat Julen Lopetegui’s side 4-1 at home in the Premier League on Saturday (19 October), courtesy of goals from Dujan Kulusevski, Yves Bissouma, Son Heung-min and an own-goal from Alphonse Areola.

Three of those goals notably came after Postecoglou replaced Maddison with Pape Matar Sarr at the start of the second half.

Assessing Maddison’s performance, Robbie Earle said that Spurs look much more balanced without the England international and suggested he is a passenger in the team.

“He’s a strange character, James Maddison, isn’t he?”, he said on NBC Sports’ The 2 Robbies Podcast (20 October).

“He came into the football club at the start of last season and did so, so well, was a big part of what they were doing, one of the first names on the team sheet.

“And then, something seems to go wrong, it’s happened a little bit in his Leicester days, there were moments when certain big games you never saw him and then he seems to have had a moment again where the team balance looks better now [without him].

“The problem with James Maddison… he’s such a technically gifted player that if he’s not making goals, scoring goals or dominating the game for you, there isn’t an awful lot else.

“Modern-day football doesn’t allow luxuries anymore, doesn’t allow you to carry any passengers, the best teams in the league don’t carry any passengers, you still have to do your hard work and your defensive stuff.”

James Maddison to be dropped at Tottenham?

Maddison may find the criticism harsh as he was not particularly bad during the 45 minutes he played against West Ham.

According to FotMob, the England international created five chances, the most in the game, and grabbed the assist for Kulusevski’s goal.

He also completed 32 of his 35 passes with 91 per cent accuracy, with 32 of them played forward – the most by any player in the game behind Cristian Romero.

However, the 27-year-old fell short on the defensive side of the game, winning only two of his five ground duels (40 per cent) while not attempting a single aerial duel or tackle.

With his only other defensive contributions being an interception and a recovery, Tottenham struggled in midfield in the first half and this was evident in the early minutes of the game when Mohammed Kudus had a shot saved by Guglielmo Viacrio.

Maddison was also spotted letting Tomas Soucek run into the box easily in the lead-up to Kudus’ goal in the eighteenth minute, thus justifying the “passenger” comment.

It should then be no surprise that Postecoglou, who was let down by Maddison, decided to bring Sarr on at the beginning of the second half.

Having seen his team play much better in the second period, the Greek-Australian manager must now bench Maddison for Tottenham’s upcoming Premier League game against Crystal Palace on Sunday (27 October).

Spurs face AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday (24 October) before that, but the former Leicester City man is unlikely to start anyway, having only had 24 minutes of playing time in Europe this season.

As suggested by Bryan King, he may also be carrying an injury issue.

In other Tottenham news, Spurs are eyeing a cut-price deal for this La Liga star in January.

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