If there was any doubt about who James Maddison was “shushing” after scoring what turned out to be the winner against Manchester United, he cleared it up on TikTok. (Where else?)
With “COYS” as the caption, Roy Keane’s criticism of the midfielder on a podcast last week was spliced together with his goal on Sunday.
“If you’re a player in the Spurs dressing room and he’s back in the squad, you wouldn’t be looking and going, ‘James is back today – we’re going to be fine!’,” Keane tells Ian Wright.
Wright responds: “You’ve got to silence this James, you’re the only one who can do it.”
And in Maddison’s eyes, he promptly did. After beating Andre Onana from close range, he ran to the nearest camera, threw his signature dart and put his finger to his lips.
Keane added: “People say, ‘Maddison’s the man’, but when is he going to step up to the plate?”
Sunday, that’s when.
“There was just a little bit of outside noise wasn’t there this week?” Maddison said.
“People have their opinions and I wanted to do my talking on the pitch today. There will be a certain few enjoying me being the match-winner today.”
Argument won. Or was it? What has Maddison actually proved?
Every nine-year-old with a pair of ears knows what to do when a team-mate shoots on goal (“Follow it in!”) and if those same nine-year-olds have watched Onana at United, they will know he is unlikely to grab anything at the first attempt. Weakly parry it he did and Maddison was the beneficiary, scoring a three-yard tap-in to give Spurs the lead after just 13 minutes.
And a lead over whom? This is not the great United. It also probably isn’t the worst team to wear the shirt, even if their manager has called them as much, but they are 15th in the table and having the club’s worst season in half a century.
It wasn’t even obviously the winner given it happened so early, although perhaps Maddison correctly hedged that a front line of Rasmus Hojlund (no goals in 14 games), Alejandro Garnacho (no goals in 17 games) and Joshua Zirkzee (one goal in 13 games) was unlikely to bear fruit.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Madders didn’t accept what was being said about him, and put a shot back over the bow,” Ange Postecoglou said afterwards.
“It’s just great to have him back. He’s a quality player. If you just look at his goals return this year from midfield, it’s still right up there.
“He got frustrated when he got injured, and to be honest, we didn’t think he would be back for a couple of weeks, but he’s worked awfully hard at training and done everything right to make sure he’s available.
“He took his goal well, but also contributed to us getting the victory.”
So maybe it was a pre-emptive shush, one with the knowledge that this goal would end up being the cherry on top of a complete Maddison performance.
But equally, perhaps he did not listen to the whole podcast, because Keane’s criticism was more nuanced than the soundbite that hit the headlines.
“I saw him, James Maddison, at [Manchester] City when they won that game 4-0 and I thought he blended the quality of his attacking with actually being good in his defensive duties,” Keane added.
“I actually said that he set a standard that night that he’s got to continue to keep. He’s not consistent – that’s the problem with him.”
Consistency, by its nature, is hard to prove overnight, but Tottenham play Manchester City again in nine days’ time, an obvious opportunity to prove that it was not just a flash in the pan.
But Spurs will relish the availability of ammunition for a growing siege mentality. Postecoglou refused to offer his opposite number Ruben Amorim sympathy in the midst of an injury crisis.
“Welcome to my world,” he said. “But do that for two months.”
Spurs are fighting an uphill battle and one win does not change that, just as one Maddison goal does not eradicate the criticism against him. But both have the ability to light a fire underneath Tottenham that could turn their season around.
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