Postecoglou explains why James Maddison didn’t start against Man City

James Maddison made his long-awaited return to the field for Tottenham Hotspur yesterday, coming on as a substitute against Manchester City, but why didn’t he start? Ange Postecoglou has the answer.

It’s safe to say that James Maddison had a profound impact on this Tottenham side since he joined the club from Leicester City last summer. He registered three goals and six assists in his first ten games (Transfermarkt), but his season was cut short in game 11.

That fateful game, a 4-1 defeat to Chelsea, saw Maddison limp off with an ankle injury that has kept him out of action for almost three months.

In his absence, Ange Postecoglou has deployed Giovani Lo Celso and Dejan Kulusevski in his place, and both have done a fine job. However, neither quite possess the ability to change a game in the way Maddison does.

Why did Maddison start on the bench against City?

So, with the playmaker back in training this week, many fans hoped they would see Maddison in the starting line up to face Manchester City in the FA Cup fourth round. Those fans were disappointed, but Postecoglou has explained why he opted to start Maddison on the bench.

He told Football.London: “Not really [a close decision]. I think knowing the nature of the game today, he’s trained well this week and a half but he’s missed a lot of football. We were hoping to get him some minutes tonight which he did

“He should be right to go from now on, but there’s another two games next week and we need him and others to pitch in. So yeah it wasn’t really much of a dilemma about whether to start him or not. I just felt that just coming off the bench was going to be better for us as a team more than anything else.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Honestly, it’s just great to have Maddison back. He can now slot into the starting line up for the Brentford game next week and hopefully his full return will be a huge lift for us moving into the second half of the campaign.