Peter Schmeichel has been critical of Tottenham midfielder James Maddison and how he ‘lacks’ without the ball.
Given that the former Manchester United goalkeeper’s son, Kasper, played for Leicester City for many years, he would have been present at their game often.
That would have allowed him to watch James Maddison on a regular basis and he feels that Tottenham’s new summer signing was a liability out of possession, as he told Premier League Productions.
The 26-year-old played in an attack-minded and possession-based system under Brendan Rodgers, and from an individual perspective, made the ball talk in the final third.
The only dampener for the player is that during Leicester’s relegation run, from January onwards, they only kept two clean sheets and on both occasions, Maddison wasn’t in the XI.
It’s clear that Maddison needs to be higher up the pitch and Ange Postecoglou is far more aggressive when that happens, with Schmeichel sharing his thoughts.
“Maddison is a really, really good player, when he is allowed to,” said Schmeichel. “When you give him space, he is a really, really good player.
“After following closely at Leicester, where he lacks a little bit, is the understanding of what he has to do when his team doesn’t have the ball.
“Now, he has a manager who has this idea. If he can put this into Maddison and that he fully understands, then he will be a fantastic signing at Spurs.”
Midfield around Maddison
One of the big issues for Maddison at Leicester was the midfield around him declining and a backline that had become error-prone.
That’s not the case at Spurs because new faces have been added to the backline, whilst the likes of Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are playing with a new lease of life.
That has allowed Maddison to play with freedom and push further forward on the pitch and the results are there for all to see.
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