James Maddison was a guest on BBC’s Football Focus in the early days of the Covid lockdown when Dan Walker was presenting the show from home.
On bookshelves behind Walker was a framed photograph of Moustapha Hadji playing for Coventry City. In the same spot in the previous week, there had been a photo of Youssef Chippo also in action for the Sky Blues.
Maddison, who was born in Coventry and came through the club’s academy before joining Norwich City at the age of 19 was asked if he wanted to extend the theme.
He opted for Lee Carsley, who had started his coaching career working with teenagers including Maddison in Coventry’s youth ranks after two spells there as a player either side of the move from Highfield Road to the new ground now known as the Coventry Building Society Arena.
‘He was my coach when I was with the Under 14s and he was my coach with the England Under 21s last summer,’ Maddison told Walker in April 2020. ‘He’s one of the best guys in football, so I would like to see him in the frame.’
Tottenham star James Maddison was left out of interim boss Lee Carsley’s first England squad
Carsley had begun his coaching career at Coventry, working with teenagers like Maddison
Maddison, a Coventry academy graduate, labelled Carsley as ‘one of the best guys in football’
Maddison though was not in the frame when Carsley selected his first England squad.
Three months after missing the final cut for Euro 2024 under Gareth Southgate and Tottenham’s playmaker was overlooked again.
Carsley opted instead for the uncapped Morgan Gibbs-White of Nottingham Forest, one of four players he had promoted from the U21s.
There is no shortage of talent in this area for an England boss. One of the successes of the modern academy system has been to produce more creative midfielders. Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Gibbs-White all come into this category. All younger than Maddison.
Injury ruled Bellingham out of this squad named for games against the Republic of Ireland and Finland. Foden and Palmer withdrew. Still, no call for Maddison.
Carsley, whose squad will train at Tottenham ahead of Tuesday’s game against Finland at Wembley, said he and Marcus Rashford were ‘on the radar’ but England post Southgate stand on the cusp of a new era.
Carsley has instead called-up Morgan Gibbs-White, promoting him from the Under-21 squad
Maddison needs to snap back into form quickly if he is to add to his seven England caps
The midfielder had enjoyed a stunning start to life at Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou
Like his predecessor, the interim England boss is stepping up from the U21s determined to trust the young players he has been working alongside and trusts to make the next step in international football.
It feels as if chances are disappearing for those on the periphery from Maddison’s generation and if he is to add to the seven caps won across five years, he needs to snap back into his best form quickly.
‘I was devastated to miss out on the Euros,’ the 27-year-old told the London Evening Standard after Tottenham’s first game of this season, a 1-1 draw at his former club Leicester City. ‘It’s all motivation now, because it’s gone.
‘It’s about using that as fuel to be good this season and I’m desperate to be a top player for the whole season, stay fit and show everyone the best version of myself. I never doubt myself.’
Maddison has not scored a goal since March. He has only one in 2024. When in his rhythm and at his best, Maddison is a player who influences results. He scores and makes goals. He is a delight to watch.
This time last year and new Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou and Maddison came together like a match made in football heaven.
Postecoglou swept into North London intent on change. Maddison was signed early in the summer, made a vice-captain, handed the number 10 shirt vacated by Harry Kane and trusted to play as one of three midfielders.
By the end of his time at Leicester, Maddison had more often been deployed out wide albeit with the licence to drift inside. His strength, aggression and physicality in the heart of a midfield battle have been questioned since he first started to emerge through the ranks at Coventry City.
An ankle injury sustained against Chelsea last November disrupted Maddison and Tottenham
Maddison clashed with Neal Maupay on his return, showing how he could be distracted
His vision, technique and imagination on the ball have not but where best to play him in a modern system has nagged away. The decision to give him leadership responsibility raised a few eyebrows, too.
Although Maddison’s brilliant early-season form eased those doubts. There were three goals and five assists in the first 10 games. Tottenham topped the Premier League and there were England caps against Ukraine and Australia.
Then came an ankle injury against Chelsea, a 4-1 defeat which brought the bright start to an abrupt end in November. Micky van de Ven was also injured. Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie were sent off.
That was a bad night all round for the Ange Ball revolution and for Maddison led to an all-too familiar feeling of disruption.
He was back by the end of January but was not quite in the same groove. He became embroiled on his first start after injury in a petty dispute with Neal Maupay about goal celebrations, which served as a reminder of how easily he could be distracted.
There were other important players still missing, including Heung-min Son with whom Maddison had struck up an instant understanding on the left.
When Spurs purred last season those two players are usually at the creative heart, especially when Son played wide, threatening with runs into the space behind the opposition’s back line, rather than linking up play through the centre.
Maddison’s only goal of this calendar year came against Aston Villa back in March
Postecoglou believes the key for Maddison’s form is for the midfielder to feel physically good
Maddison has shown flashes so far this campaign but is yet to recapture his form consistently
The desire to rekindle this chemistry would have been behind the priority search for a new centre forward in the summer and the subsequent outlay on Dominic Solanke, but the £65million signing from Bournemouth was injured on his debut and has not played since.
Maddison has started the new campaign with flashes of his quality. He has two assists in three games but just as Postecoglou’s team have not been able to recapture consistently the flair they boasted in the first 10 games of last season, nor has he dazzled in quite the same way.
‘The key for me with Madders is if he’s physically good,’ said Postecoglou after the comfortable 4-0 win against Everton last month. ‘If he’s feeling 100 per cent physically, and he’s fit and he’s training every day he can produce those kinds of performances.
‘It’s when that drops off a little bit that you see his performance… I think it affects him as well, you know, if he doesn’t feel 100%. There’s no doubt he’s at that now that he’s training every day. He trains hard every day. He’s had a really strong preseason and I think that makes him feel like, “you know what, I can go out there and do the stuff I do”.’