James Maddison was back at his very best in Tottenham’s 3-1 victory over Brentford in Premier League action on Saturday. The England international had made an electric start to life in north London after his £40million move from Leicester City in the summer of 2023.
An ankle injury hugely derailed his debut campaign at Spurs with the attacking midfielder struggling to get back to the levels he showed in his first few months at the club. Glimpses of his quality have been on show in the opening weeks but, until Saturday’s win, he had failed to stamp his mark on a game.
It was his relentless pressing that helped Spurs equalise after Bryan Mbeumo’s early opener. After winning possession back, his shot was palmed into the path of Dominic Solanke who opened his Tottenham account following a £65million move from Bournemouth in the most recent trading period.
For Brennan Johnson’s goal that put Ange Postecoglou’s side in front, Maddison intercepted a pass in Brentford’s defensive half before finding Son Heung-min in acres of space. The South Korea international then forwarded the ball onto Johnson who proceeded to fire past Mark Flekken for his second goal in four days.
Having done all the dirty work, Maddison got his just reward by scoring his first goal of the season after finishing a fast break in the final stages to put the game beyond Brentford. In his post-match press conference, Postecoglou was asked about Maddison’s performance with his response telling of how he epitomised the game plan.
“Yeah, I thought he was good,” the Lilywhites boss said. “I thought the whole team was good. Everyone was really focused on making sure we dominated the game in the areas we want to dominate. We kind of knew that they’d try and play out a bit.
“That’s great for us because it gives us an opportunity to press real hard and I thought all the midfielders really supported the front three well there. They were going to press us when we had the ball and I thought Vic and the back four managed it really well and the midfielders played a key role with that. So I think everyone really contributed to a strong performance.”
Understandably so, Maddison was rather pleased with his display at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and his message on Instagram showed exactly how happy he is to be at the club. Alongside a picture of his celebration, Maddison simply wrote: “My club @SpursOfficial.”
Alongside Maddison, Solanke also bagged his first of the season with the former clearly of the belief that Tottenham’s new striker will score plenty of goals. In reply to his Instagram Post, Maddison said: “First of a hellllluvaaa lot of goals for you this season my boy [white heart and hands together emoji.]”
