Spurs manager credits midfielder’s ‘enormous self-belief’Ange Postecoglou said that everybody would love to be as self-assured as James Maddison, not least some of his other players at Tottenham, as he reflected on the vice-captain’s importance to the collective.
Maddison was typically to-the-point in his post-match assessment, saying that if he went through “tough spells of having two games out, I’m at the age now where I’m able to go and show you that this team is much better with me in it”. “Yeah, I get that but at the same time, I’m not in the happiness business,” Postecoglou said. “They are all here to help us be successful whether you’re playing or not because sometimes when you come on for 10 minutes you can help us change a course of our season.“For me, you’re a member of this squad. No one is guaranteed anything. I don’t say to players: ‘You are going to play 55 games.’ It’s unlikely anyone will do that; in fact no one will.
“I don’t think he puts that on,” Postecoglou said. “He is genuine in that. He does have enormous self-belief, which is a great thing to have in life. We all want to have that self-confidence in whatever area we are involved in. He wants to be the catalyst for things. The challenge for Madders and all these guys is to turn that into a positive force where the team benefits as much as he does individually.