Teddy Sheringham was right to ask Postecoglou to make tactical midfield change

Teddy Sheringham made an interesting comment about James Maddison’s prospects of game time ahead of the game against Man City, and he was bang-on.

James Maddison has been out of the Spurs starting XI

Earlier in the season, Ange Postecoglou experimented with playing both Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski together in midfield in front of one holding midfielder.

While that did yield some success, the Australian eventually made a change and brought Pape Sarr on for Maddison at half-time during the win over West Ham last month.

That change gave Tottenham much better balance in the middle of the park and Postecoglou thus stuck with the same combination for the next two Premier League games. This meant that the former Leicester City man has had to be content with a place on the bench.

That was until Postecoglou threw Maddison back into the starting XI against Man City at the Etihad, only for the England international to net a first-half brace.

Teddy Sheringham on the Maddison-Kulusevski partnership

Sherwood admitted that he is a big fan of Kulusevski playing through the middle as a number ten. However, the former Tottenham striker revealed that he wants to see Postecoglou revert to playing the Swede alongside Maddison, insisting that the pair can work together.

That was exactly what happened against Man City, with Kulusevski drifting in off the right and Maddison playing in a more central role.

The pundit told Best Offshore Sportsbooks (as relayed by Football.London): “I really like [Kulusevski] in that position. He comes in and takes Maddison’s spot, although I think you can play both of them at times, especially at home.

“Maybe he’s looked and thought that you can’t. I like Kulusevski in that 10 position, but I also like Maddison playing alongside him as well. I thought they perform nicely together.”

Sheringham praises Postecoglou’s in-game decisions

Postecoglou has sometimes come under criticism for not making changes soon enough and being reactive with his substitutions rather than proactive.

However, Sheringham pointed out that the Tottenham head coach has shown bravery by making some big calls over recent weeks by taking off some of his best players.

The former Spurs striker added: “I think Postecoglou has made a couple of big calls, and I’ll stand by him and what he’s doing. Recently he took Maddison off when the team got back to 1-1 just before half-time, and he took him off when the team were playing really well. I was actually at the game.

“He took Maddison off at half-time and then the team ended up beating West Ham 4-1. Then he did the same thing with Son, his other top player and his captain. He took him off at 1-1 in the same game and the team went on to beat Aston Villa 4-1. So, it was obviously the right decision at the time. When you take your top players off, it kind of rocks them, when you look to them for leadership to get you back into the game.

“They were obviously the right calls at the time for the team to go on to win, but you’ve got to manage those two big egos very well as well, and you need to let them know that it was just a one-off or whatever, because Maddison was playing quite well in that particular game and I was surprised that he took him off in the manner that he did, but obviously the team won.”

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