Tottenham midfielder James Maddison sits down exclusively with Sky Sports News to discuss the club’s struggles in the Premier League this season, their Europa League hopes, being the target of criticism and his England ambitions.
How is the team feeling after Sunday’s 2-2 home draw against Bournemouth?
“A bit mixed. A club like Tottenham, when we’re playing Bournemouth at home, even though they’re having a good season, you do go into it thinking that this game we should be winning – no disrespect to Bournemouth, they’re having a fantastic season. Especially at home as well, a point’s probably not quite good enough in a game like that. But in the scheme of things, how we went 2-0 down and we showed character at times where we’ve probably lacked maybe a little bit of that when we just need that bit at the end.
“We’ve lost a lot of games this year by one goal, where we’ve needed just to find something. We managed to find it to get a point on Sunday, so it’s important that we do look at the positives and not the negatives. We’re going to need that Thursday [against AZ Alkmaar] because we’re a goal behind in that already from the first leg, so it kind of fits in well with the character we need to show then. But it was a point and positives to take in the comeback.”
Why do you think Spurs are 13th in the Premier League? Do you think it’s solely down to injuries?
“Well it’s a massive factor, and I don’t want to sound like I’m making loads of excuses, but when you have such a long period of time in the busiest part of the year where you miss (Guglielmo) Vicario, (Cristian) Romero, (Micky) Van de Ven, (Destiny) Udogie, (Dominic) Solanke, Richarlison for long periods, not just one game or two games, it is a defining factor.
“Of course, we’re not naive to not look in the mirror and think that we could have been better here, we could have been better there. Performances in certain games maybe could have been better, but it is a defining factor and it’s been a tough year for setbacks with injuries at this club. It’s just factual.”
As a senior player were you thinking it was tough?
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Jamie Carragher and former Southampton boss Russell Martin take a look at how Bournemouth caused chaos for Spurs on Sunday
“Yeah, over that Christmas period when the Premier League picks up a little bit and we had the Carabao Cup semi-final, which is two legs and just a lot of games with the new European format as well with eight games in the group. It’s a lot of football and you need your squad for that and we didn’t have that.
“The one blessing that it kind of created was the fact that we got exposure to the young lads and the lads who hadn’t played as much, so the likes of Djed (Spence) got his opportunity and he’s been phenomenal. Lucas (Bergvall) and Archie (Gray) have come in as 18-year-olds and played a lot of football, more than probably what the manager and the club had hoped for their transition into the first team, but that’ll leave them in good stead.
“It’s tough as a senior player. I only missed a couple of weeks, but for the lads like Romero, I know who the type of person he is, and Van de Ven, and Vic (Vicario), like I said, the names I listed, senior players who missed months and it’s tough. Any footballer will tell you it’s so tough because you can’t help, you have to watch on the sideline and it kills you inside.”
Have the players spoken about how important the Europa League last-16 second leg against AZ Alkmaar is on Thursday?
Tottenham lost the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie against AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in the Netherlands last week
“Yeah, we know what it means to us, the fans, everyone, we’re all on the same page. The first leg obviously wasn’t good enough, tough conditions on a tough pitch to play the way we want to play, but it’s only 1-0, they’ve got to come to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and if the fans get behind us and have the place rocking like we know they can.”
Is that a message to the fans? “No, I think they’ve been brilliant, especially in Europe as well, the midweek ones are tough in the middle of the week because people have lives and jobs and kids, I know all that, it doesn’t go unappreciated and unnoticed. So just more of that, more of what we’ve seen in Europe so far.
“I remember the game we played against them [AZ Alkmaar] in the group stage. We were doing pretty well, I captained the side and the atmosphere was brilliant that night, we won 1-0. We’re going to need more of that and we need to give them something to shout about and the lads are going to be up for it and we’re going to start fast and hopefully we can get the job done.”
Despite your league position, it could still be an amazing season if you lift the Europa League?
“The manager always speaks about how it can still be special for us if we win that, and we’re in a good position to do that.
“Listen, we’ve got work to do in the second leg but we know we’re capable of that and we can turn it around, there’s no one in there doubting the fact that we can do that. But we have to go and do it, talk is one thing, we have to go and win the game and turn over the defeat of the first leg. You win that and you pick up a bit of momentum, you’re in the quarter-final and then it can still be a special season for us. That’s what we’re hoping for and that’s what we’re striving for.”
Now scapegoat might be the wrong word, but do you feel like you get talked about a bit too much?
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Roy Keane takes aim at Maddison during the Spurs warm-up!
“Yeah but that’s okay, I’d rather that than them talk about Archie or Lucas. I don’t mind taking the heat a little bit. I’m big enough and ugly enough now to take the hits and take the criticism because I know what I’m capable of, I know what I can do, I know my personal level and what people don’t see is what we do behind the scenes and how much we’re trying to improve and how much we work and it’s very cheap to go and sit and talk and criticise.
“Training today, the standard was unbelievable and lads working really hard because we drew at home to Bournemouth, lads are not happy, so they don’t see that it hurts us as well when we’re not doing well in the league.
“I feel good, I actually feel pretty good, feel pretty sharp, really looking forward to Thursday and beyond, try and finish the season special as a team, try and finish the season strong personally, still have a really good season in terms of goals and assists and try and look for the positives and try and spread that through the dressing room instead of focusing on the negatives and the doom and gloom of the league position.”
On your England ambitions, has new boss Thomas Tuchel phoned you?
New England boss Thomas Tuchel has been in touch with Maddison
“Yeah, we had a chat. He’s England manager, I think he would be speaking to everyone who’s in possible call-up selection.
“It’s tough to reflect on personal [ambitions] when a team’s not doing well, because you can score and if you lose the game it’s worthless. I’ve got 10 goals this season but I want it to be worth more because it’s a good return for a midfielder, I’m happy with that return. When you start the season you look as an attacking midfielder, your job is to score and create for the team and goals and assists is a big thing about that. But ultimately, if it leads to the team finishing mid-table and it’s not going deep in the Europa League then it’s kind of worthless.
“Of course, England is another thing that I have ambition for. Fresh manager, fresh start, I know I can play at that level, I have the self-belief to do that, play against these players every week in the Premier League and I know I can be at that level and beyond, so ambitious for it all.”
Analysis: Open and engaging Maddison knows importance of Thursday’s AZ game
Sky Sports News’ Michael Bridge:
“If Tottenham are eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday night, their season is as good as over.
“Supporters were left scratching their heads with the first-leg performance given the importance of the game. However, I left the Tottenham Hotspur training ground convinced James Maddison knew how important the second leg was.
“He’s an open and engaging person. He recognises 13th in the table isn’t good enough but the opportunity is there Thursday to send Spurs into the quarter-finals of a major competition.
“It was also clear he relishes his senior role at the club. Public criticism from Roy Keane hasn’t affected him and probably acknowledging it wasn’t meant with any malice.
“If Maddison can help lead Spurs to a place in the latter stages of the Europa League, Thomas Tuchel might be giving his number another call again soon.”