Yahoo News Leicester City told James Maddison has licked his wounds and is ready to fire again
Leicester City have been warned to beware of James Maddison as he returns to the club for the first time since relegation.
The playmaker spent five years at the King Power Stadium, playing a key role as the club won the FA Cup and registered two top-five finishes in the Premier League.
But it all turned sour when the Foxes were relegated a year last May and Maddison left soon after to join tonight's opponents, Tottenham Hotspur (8pm kick-off).
It promises to be a baptism of fire for the newly-promoted Foxes as new boss Steve Cooper struggles to put a Premier League ready team in place following a series of disappointments in the summer transfer market. But Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou reckons it is the player that Leicester sold last summer who should be their chief concern.
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Maddison had been one of the form players in the Premier League before an ankle injury last November that ultimately saw him miss out on selection for the England squad for Euro 20204. Postecoglou believes Monday's game presents him with the perfect chance to respond.
He explained: "I’ve sensed in Madders that he’s really determined to have a big season. Hopefully that gets him back in the England frame, but more importantly for us hopefully gets him back to the form we know he can have.
“The good thing is he’s fit and he’s laid himself a good opportunity and foundation to have another strong season.
“The disappointment of say missing the Euros, well that’s just again part of being a footballer. We take all the good stuff, but you have setbacks and it’s how you react to those.
“I’m sure he’ll want to sort of go out there and get himself back into the international frame and get back playing for England.
“Again, that’s up to him to kind of find the right way to use that as a motivation. If you just sort of deflect or at any point kind of say ‘you know it had nothing to do with me,’ then you miss an opportunity to improve."
Missing out on the Euros meant Maddison was one of the first players to return to pre-season training for Spurs, but Postecoglou did not feel the need to put an arm around his shoulder. Instead, he believes the key for Maddison to get back to his best is being able to fully trust in his body.
“I haven’t sat down with him, but I don’t know what a confidence player really means,” Postecoglou added. “As a player, you’ve got to be on it all the time. You can’t pick and choose. If you are physically fit and you get selected, you should be buzzing.
“Madders certainly doesn’t lack self-belief and he knows he can be a real dominant player. With Madders, a lot of it last year was the physical element.
“When he wasn’t 100 per cent fit, then he couldn’t really perform at the levels he wanted to. Even when he came back from injury, I never felt like he reached those physical levels he did earlier in the year.
“So, that’s a real key for him. If he’s training really well and in a good physical condition, then I think his game flows from that.
“He’s definitely a player who can get punters off their seats. I think players feed off that as well. So yeah, it’s important for us that he’s playing at his best. I think he makes us a better team and a more dangerous team. Hopefully that’s what we see.”
