'I sense in him that he's back'

Image source, Getty Images

  • Author, Nizaar Kinsella
  • Role, 麻豆约拍 Sport football news reporter

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou says James Maddison has come back from his England heartbreak determined to 鈥渉ave a big season鈥.

The 27-year-old described how he was 鈥渄evastated鈥 in June after being one of the last players cut from Gareth Southgate鈥檚 Euro 2024 squad that travelled to Germany, reaching a final, which they lost 2-1 to Spain.

Now, ahead of an opening day fixture away at his former club Leicester City, Postecoglou admits Maddison is motivated by the snub: 鈥淚鈥檝e sensed in Madders that he鈥檚 come back.

鈥淗e鈥檚 really determined to have a big season and hopefully that gets him back in the England frame, but more importantly for us hopefully gets him back to the form we know he can have.鈥

He further explained why a downturn in form happened for Maddison towards the end of last season, which saw him go from a regular starter with England, to needing to make way for others.

鈥淲ith Madders, a lot of it last year was the physical element,鈥 Postecoglou added. 鈥淲hen he wasn鈥檛 100 percent fit, then he couldn鈥檛 really perform at the levels he wanted to and even when he came back from injury, I never felt like he reached those physical levels he did earlier in the year.

鈥淪o, that鈥檚 a real key for him, if he鈥檚 training really well and in a good physical condition then I think his game flows from that.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we鈥檙e trying to do with him, we鈥檝e tried to give him a really strong pre-season to try and push him in a physical way where I think when he feels good about that, the rest of it goes from there rather than him lacking any confidence or self-belief.鈥