Maddison’s comments post-Brighton give Spurs fans a glimmer of hope – opinion
In light of Tottenham’s horror defeat at the AMEX Stadium last Sunday, vice-captain James Maddison faced some hard truths, showing him to be an embodiment of everything both right and wrong with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
The breakdown at Brighton
It appeared that players and supporters alike believed the final tie of matchweek seven to be all but over when James Maddison slotted Spurs’ second goal past Bart Verburggen in just the 37th minute.
Tottenham’s sheer dominance to that point in the match, combined with the amount of 1-0 leads squandered in the previous 12 months, meant that the two-goal halftime lead felt unrecognisably secure.
But just 30 in-game minutes later Tottenham found themselves 3-2 down, with no promising avenue back into the match.
Following the defeat James Maddison, arguably Spurs’ brightest player of the first half, accepted that the team may have been too content with their first-half lead, admitting his side “lost control of the game when the first goal went in” (Sky Sports).
This result could not have come at a worse time for Tottenham, who had to wait nearly two weeks to redeem themselves in their next league fixture against West Ham.
Maddison summed this up perfectly, saying “We have been on a good run, but it feels like a couple of steps back today.” In all likelihood, long-time Spurs fans reading these comments can’t help but feel like they embody more than just the past few weeks’ fixtures.
The same old problems at Spurs
These words quite accurately describe the Champions League run under Pochettino and the start of Antonio Conte’s first full season. Matches under Mourinho, such as the 3-3 collapse against West Ham or Mislav Orsic’s second-half hattrick which saw a promising Europa League campaign cut short, also come to mind.
Even Maddison’s own career thus far at N17, which started so brightly with Premier League POTM honours in his first month has been marred with injury setbacks and consistency issues.
Both on the pitch and off it, the club and its players continue to show promise and inspire hope amongst its loyal, tortured fanbase, however, another backwards step has the more pessimistic amongst the fanbase questioning why this season will be different from those before it.
The hope is that this result is a wake-up call for any amongst the group, players and staff alike, that may have been getting ahead of themselves. The hope is that this galvanises the squad and sparks a response. The hope is that there is sufficient accountability and leadership within the team to make the most of this result.
Maddison’s own post-match Instagram story was encouraging, reading “We take full responsibility & criticism & will use it as fuel to move forward,” but the question remains:
Why didn’t we see this on the field?
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