Despite being taken off at half-time in the win over West Ham on Saturday afternoon, James Maddison managed to do something no other player in the Premier League could this weekend.
Maddison sacrificed for tactical shake-up
With the scores level at 1-1 at the interval on Saturday, James Maddison was replaced by Pape Matar Sarr, and many suspected the playmaker had picked up an injury.
That theory was soon put to bed, as it emerged Ange Postecoglou had decided to make a tactical switch that would allow Sarr to offer extra protection in the middle of the park while Dejan Kulusevski ventured further forward in attacking areas.
The move proved to be a successful one, with Kulusevski pulling the strings as Tottenham went on to trounce West Ham 4-1.
But, that’s not to say Maddison wasn’t influential in the first half. Far from it, in fact, as data from the weekend suggests he was actually highly creative in his 45 minutes on the pitch.
Spurs record for Maddison
As per information from Squawka pertaining to this weekend’s Premier League games, James Maddison was actually responsible for more chances created than any other player in the division.
Maddison registered five chances created in that first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, putting him top of the pile. Behind him, former Spurs midfielder Harry Winks registered four chances created, as did Ryan Manning, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Youri Tielemans, and Marcus Rashford.
Interestingly, Maddison has now equalled a Spurs record that had stood for more than 20 years. He is the first player since Darren Anderton back in 2003 to create five or more chances in a Premier League game while playing 45 minutes or fewer.
Versatile midfield key for Postecoglou
I have seen some saying that the success of that substitution at the weekend means that Maddison should be dropped, which is nonsense. He’s still absolutely crucial to the midfield, as these statistics prove. All it means is that we have a midfield roster that can chop and change to suit our needs at any given time, and that’s brilliant.
RELATED NEWS
F.A authorities sanctioned Mohammed Kudus and two other player
After his red card for violent conduct in the defeat against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend, West Ham star Mohammed Kudus is in line for a potential six-game ban according to former referee Mike Dean.
Monumental head loss for Mohammed Kudus
The Ghanaian forward may have given West Ham the lead in the London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, but Kudus did not even make it to the end of the game after picking up a red card in the 86th minute.
It is still not quite clear what provoked the intense reaction from Kudus, who lashed out at Micky van de Ven, striking the Spurs defender in the face.
This incident sparked chaos on the pitch, with numerous players involved. Among the fracas, Kudus also made contact with Pape Matar Sarr‘s face, too.
The West Ham man was given a yellow card by referee Andrew Madley, but this was later escalated to a straight red after VAR intervention.
Big ban incoming for Kudus
Kudus will now serve a standard three-match suspension for the red card, but this could be extended to up to six matches.
According to Mike Dean, this is exactly what should happen, and he believes Kudus should be reprimanded for the attack on van de Ven and Sarr as two separate incidents.
Dean told Sky Sports: “Hopefully with the second one the FA will then take retrospective action so he’ll get done twice in my opinion, because he’s hit two different players in the face on two occasions.”
Kudus is still a top player
He may have sullied his reputation somewhat with that incident at the weekend, but Kudus is still a brilliant player and he’s definitely the most exciting talent West Ham have in their squad. He would be a great fit for Spurs, and it’s a shame we didn’t sign him when we were looking at him last year.
