James Maddison makes big claim about Tottenham’s future under Ange Postecoglou
The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder is looking forward to what next season and the future holds under their Australian head coach
James Maddison believes Tottenham can “achieve big things” under Ange Postecoglou following his first year of working under the Australian.
Spurs finished fifth under Postecoglou this season, with a higher points tally, more goals scored, fewer conceded and a better style of football on the whole than the previous campaign before his arrival. The 58-year-old has said that he is looking for Tottenham to push on and challenge for the Premier League title next season.
Maddison has contributed nine assists and four goals in 28 Premier League games since arriving in north London last summer. On Wednesday evening, the 27-year-old England international Scored Spurs’ goal in their 1-1 draw against Newcastle in a post season friendly in Melbourne, which ended with a penalty shoot-out that Eddie Howe’s men won, and Maddison got to see almost 80,000 roar their support for Postecoglou in his hometown at the MCG.
The midfielder, one of Tottenham’s vice-captains, believes big things are on the horizon with the Australian and has relished their first season together.
“Yeah he’s quite popular isn’t he? Ange is a good man. He’s a great character. I love working for him and to see him in his country with the support he gets here was nice to see,” he said.
“The first season of any new project is always challenging. It has its ups and downs. I’m really enjoying working for him, genuinely, and I think we can achieve big things hopefully. So the first year of many I hope.”
Maddison admitted that the post-season game across the world with the team flying straight off after the final whistle of Sunday’s Premier League final match at Sheffield United was a tough experience for the players and himself personally, even if the welcome from the Australian Spurs fans was one he will remember.
“It’s very tiring. It’s obviously a long, long flight to be here. We were in the air for longer than we were actually here for. Jet lag was kicking in this morning in the early hours when I was staring at the ceiling, but the reaction we got and the warm welcome makes the trip worth it,” he said.
“We’re very appreciative of the support we’ve got over here, especially with our gaffer being Australian. The warm welcome was fantastic and we’re very appreciative of that.”
There is little time for Maddison to reset after the trip Down Under because he has been called into Gareth Southgate’s provisional England squad and will now have to fight for his spot in the final group of players who get to travel to the Euros this summer.
It’s time to go back, a nice long flight, maybe have a glass of wine, couple of days off and then meet up with the international team,” he said. “Hopefully try to recover and get my sleeping pattern back on normal English time and then go and train well and perform well in the friendlies and try to be on that plane.”
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