LONDON — James Maddison tells it how it is. That is why fans of Tottenham Hotspur, and fans of pretty much every other club, love him.
Maddison sat on the pitch as the final whistle blew in Spurs’ 1-0 win at home against Everton on the final day of the season and looked relieved, dejected and exhausted all at the same time.
The final day victory meant Spurs avoided relegation from the top-flight for the first time since 1977. They dodged what would have been branded the most humiliating relegation in the history of English football.
Their fans, players and everyone connected with the club knew it. The celebrations were there at the final whistle, but then they were muted. And rightly so.
Maddison missed basically the whole season after suffering an ACL injury last August. Missing their main creative spark hit Spurs hard this campaign.
He did return for the final three games of the season, coming off the bench in each of them to help Spurs get over the line. Just.
“Now, relief. Relief. A lot of emotion at the end. Not real joy and happiness, I’ll be honest,” a reflective Maddison told reporters in the tunnel after the game when asked about how he was feeling. “A lot of emotion, but I think overriding was relief, yeah. A tough situation we find ourselves in on the last day with a very realistic chance of us being relegated if we had lost. And we lost most of the season here. There were fine margins, but listen, it was the reality. So the happiness and the scenes you see at the end is probably relief more than anything else.”
“We were in the situation we were in. It was reality. We had to produce today and we had to dig deep. People questioned whether we had that, and we showed that. So, I am really happy for us. I am really happy for the manager who has come in and steered the ship clear because I think without him, it could have been doom and gloom.”
Maddison repeated time and time again that Spurs just weren’t good enough this season when asked what needed to change at the club.
“Now, we have to really figure out over the summer, why that was the case and go back to the team that won the Europa League, the team that before would have got Champions League if it was top five. Which we are not far away from. But yeah, the overriding feeling without going too deep is just relief and happiness that we avoided the disaster.”
Maddison was asked how Spurs make sure this doesn’t happen again. He didn’t mince his words and put the blame on the players, but also pointed to the constant managerial changes not helping either.
“We’ve got to be better and learn. This is a massive football club, and the responsibility I think as individuals we need to... it has obviously been tough for me because I haven’t played all season. But sometimes you get a clearer picture from being at the outside than when you are playing. And I just think we need to be responsible for holding ourselves to higher standards and demanding more from each other individually, like almost looking in the mirror. ‘Have I been good enough?’ and ‘I should be better.’ And most weeks this season I think that would have kind of been the case but lads need to look at themselves instead of blaming and whatnot.”
“But also momentum is such a big thing. When you are down there and we’re having manager change after manager change with Frank out, Tudor in, Tudor out. Can we get De Zerbi? And then it was all up in the air. Are we going to bring someone else in? It’s not easy, But that’s not an excuse because that was happening because the results weren’t good enough. But I’ve been really, really, really, really impressed with the manager. And I think that appointment kind of saved the disaster from happening.”
Maddison praised De Zerbi time and time again. But what specifically about the Italian coach coming in (three wins and two draws from his seven game saved Spurs) has impressed him so much?
“He’s so passionate. He believes. He’s been living at the training ground with the guys, with his team,” Maddison revealed. “I go and stay at the training ground the night before every home game just to get a good night’s sleep. He’s there. He’s there at 9pm with all his staff. He’s got like the tactics board, there’s like six of them. They’re just talking about it. It’s 9pm, you know, and we’ve already had four, five meetings on each game. He’s just obsessed with football.”
“He’s passionate, and when you feel the authenticity of someone who’s passionate for Tottenham, because I am, I love this club and I want this club to be successful so bad. And when you see the man who’s steering the ship, when he’s genuinely and not just saying it for the sake of a motivational meeting, you can tell he means that. That’s why he says ‘I have blood inside me, not water.’ You know, he always says that. He’s genuinely passionate about the club and without that appointment disaster could have maybe struck. But it didn’t. And he takes a lot of credit for that because of the work he’s done behind the scenes, training pitch. I thought we were brilliant today in a big pressurized game. I thought the first half was brilliant. We played really well, the intensity was there. And that’s what you want to see from the top.”
Maddison was asked if Spurs can get back to the top.
“I genuinely think, yeah,” Maddison said. “I don’t want to say something ridiculous and give you a massive headline.”
Does not being in Europe next season help?
“No Europe, which is not what this club should be at, but it is the reality, and it can help as it showed with [Man] United this year. So, I’m excited with this manager, and to play for him,” Maddison said.
And how much did injuries play a factor in Spurs’ woeful campaign?
“Injuries is like, I didn’t even want to mention it, but like, if you go a season without myself and Kulusevski, I am not blowing my own trumpet, but I know I can affect the game, and I’m a player at a Premier League level who can be a real threat,” Maddison said. “We probably haven’t scored enough goals this year, probably haven’t created enough chances this year, and me and Kulusevski have had to sit in the physio room for a whole year. That’s not rocket science. I am not even going to mention Kudus in this. Solanke missed a massive part of the season. Xavi at the end. The list is endless.”
“If you go all through all the clubs and you rip out some of the biggest names, our situation with the injuries has been worse than any other club,” Maddison continued when asked about the lack of leaders being around due to injuries. “People try and say, ‘oh, but we’ve got this…' But ours is astronomical and we need to look at why that is. Sometimes it can just be a coincidence, like my ACL or something else. The medical team, the theories that you see, sometimes it’s just that we’ve been a bit unlucky. But like I said, the big names that we’ve missed it does affect it and you can’t just deny that. If we had myself, Kulusevski and Kudus, and I don’t even mention Bentancur who missed three months, if you had them for the whole season we wouldn’t have been in this situation. I strongly believe that. That’s just not me being naive. But it is the situation we find ourselves in, and I am just proud of the lads to dig deep today.”
Maddison finished with a thank you the fans of Tottenham Hotspur, who have endured a horrid season watching their team just avoid relegation.
They created an incredible atmosphere at home on the final day to help get their heroes over the line.
“Thank you,” Maddison said. “I said the other day, they deserved that. Our fans are unbelievable. Like genuinely, I’m not just saying that, I think they are the best in the league, traveling, at home. Off the back of this season, we didn’t deserve that today. What they gave us today, and then... honestly it gives me goosebumps (Maddison pointing to his arm) even just talking about it. They can be a powerful tool for us because when you’re Tottenham, you’re Tottenham, you’re invested. You’re in. Just thank you to them, and we need you always like that. It’s unbelievable. Thank you.”
