Maddison

[Bert]

25 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

Absolutely categorically not this.

 

he is an excellent player when he wants to be but Grealish & Foden are on another level. 

Neither are number 10’s 

[daddylonglegs]

21 minutes ago, Bert said:

Neither are number 10’s 

For the purpose of the England conversation they’re the same category though right? He’s not getting in the side over those 2 or Mount. 
 

 

[Basildon Fox]

1 hour ago, Gazza M said:

Bertrand and Vesty can get in the bin. 

 

1 hour ago, lcfcdamo said:

I cant actually believe how bad they seem for us  vesty makes maguire look mobile

Ffs. Even the Maddison thread has become a place to slag off the Southampton 2. Embarrassing. 

[Bert]

1 hour ago, daddylonglegs said:

For the purpose of the England conversation they’re the same category though right? He’s not getting in the side over those 2 or Mount. 
 

 

They both play wide for England. But as of now, Grealish and Foden are ahead

of Maddison. 

[Bptiger]

Maddison was terrific today , he was like the player we signed from Norwich , got the ball beat a player or two and passed it to a team mate , if only we had 1-2 mor midfielders who had the composure to play with the ball rather than trying to play it 1st time everytime and never hitting a team mate 

[coolhandfox]

4 hours ago, daddylonglegs said:

Absolutely categorically not this.

 

he is an excellent player when he wants to be but Grealish & Foden are on another level. 

Neither play as a 10........

 

Both general play as LW.

 

How good do think Maddison would look in that Man City side?

 

 

[Fox92]

9 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

Neither play as a 10........

 

Both general play as LW.

 

How good do think Maddison would look in that Man City side?

 

 

Grealish has been playing behind the striker (or "number 10" as people seem to refer to it now) recently for Man City.

 

Also Grealish basically carried Villa for the past couple of years. It's not really comparable to Maddison as he has never been that key for us hence his spells out. He has a purple patch every season, which is what he's probably going through now, but he needs to do it more consistently. People like to compare him to other players on the back of temporary form and then criticise him when he's consistently poor. There's never any middle ground, just let him get on with it.

[Phil Bowman]

15 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

Shame his form & mojo have returned just when the " team " cant Rub 2 sticks together. ..

Or lucky they’ve returned, seeing as everyone else is now useless!

[Guest Col city fan]

If he can stay fit, Madders could really shine at a top club imo. Playing in a confident side who press and attack would improve the player 10-20%
However, the only top clubs I could see him thriving (and playing) for would be Man Utd and Spurs.

He wouldn’t replace Mount at Chelsea, nor Grealish or Foden at Man City. Liverpool have their trusted attacking midfielders/strikers 

Man Utd do need this type of player I think. Fernandes is class but plays a bit deeper than Maddison

Tottenham need that player just behind the likes of Son and Kane to create chances. 
I think he’ll move on in the summer personally and if he retains his form, will probably get the move he wants 

[fuchsntf]

Just now, Phil Bowman said:

Or lucky they’ve returned, seeing as everyone else is now useless!

Yup..But I want to see Maddison magic, when the team is also flying....

Because thats when competing for top 3-6 is Really on..

 

Having 3-6 great/decent regular performers, feels so much like Empty vessels, when 65-80% of Work is done, & then schoolboy-defensive-lapses takes

the games away from us...I

 

And any can who cant see our injuries over 16 months haven t played a part in our downfall, as/us been totally blind.

Its Not that Ricardo,Evans,Maddison,Ndidi,Vardy  etc have Not been away from obvious selection,Bit the fact they have Hardley had 4-6 game runs,where

the manager can Build a character,Format & Rythme to the side...Evans,Soyuncu,Ndidi,Amartey,Castagna,Tielemans having 3 games together,then repetitive

hard Knock with 2-3 games out,  presents no Platform for any continuity even when 1-2 players have 96-100% presence.

 

Thats Why generally I am not crying for Rodgers head....

It wont prevent me from agreeing with many ( Maybe 100%) saying we have a Poverty of Defensive frailities

in set pieces, of Defensive presentation, bordering now on the laughable to pathetic no matter who is & who us not available....

 

 

[turlo]

27 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

If he can stay fit, Madders could really shine at a top club imo. Playing in a confident side who press and attack would improve the player 10-20%
However, the only top clubs I could see him thriving (and playing) for would be Man Utd and Spurs.

He wouldn’t replace Mount at Chelsea, nor Grealish or Foden at Man City. Liverpool have their trusted attacking midfielders/strikers 

Man Utd do need this type of player I think. Fernandes is class but plays a bit deeper than Maddison

Tottenham need that player just behind the likes of Son and Kane to create chances. 
I think he’ll move on in the summer personally and if he retains his form, will probably get the move he wants 

Possibly Chelsea as Tuchel often play 2 10's behind a striker or even Arsenal if they get top 6.  One things for sure, if he keeps up this form and stays injury free, someone with european football is coming in for him next summer

[coolhandfox]

2 hours ago, Fox92 said:

Grealish has been playing behind the striker (or "number 10" as people seem to refer to it now) recently for Man City.

Ask Man City fans how well JG has done for them in that position, he's been pretty average for them.

2 hours ago, Fox92 said:

Also Grealish basically carried Villa for the past couple of years. It's not really comparable to Maddison as he has never been that key for us hence his spells out.

I disagree when we have been at our best since Rodgers took over Maddison has been key. When he is in poor from we aren't as good a side.

 

He's spell out have always been down to injury causing he form to suffer.

2 hours ago, Fox92 said:

He has a purple patch every season, which is what he's probably going through now, but he needs to do it more consistently. People like to compare him to other players on the back of temporary form and then criticise him when he's consistently poor. There's never any middle ground, just let him get on with it.

All players have up and down in form.

 

[KingsX]

12 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

How good do think Maddison would look in that Man City side?

 

   Yeah thanks Pep.

 

 

 

[cruzFOX]

He’s caught fire again and the key is if he keeps it going. Half the team is struggling but it’s not phasing him. Once our whole team is back in top form madders will shine even more. I smell England call ups and spuds coming back for him with a vengeance!

[fuchsntf]

3 minutes ago, cruzFOX said:

He’s caught fire again and the key is if he keeps it going. Half the team is struggling but it’s not phasing him. Once our whole team is back in top form madders will shine even more. I smell England call ups and spuds coming back for him with a vengeance!

Like Tigers, he will lose form exactly when the rest of the team find theirs..

[lcfc sheff]

Our last three games involving 10 goals, he’s been crucial to pretty much all but one goal. Scary form

[KingsX]

James Maddison must not throw away his second chance at an England career

It was the meeting that changed James Maddison’s season, and possibly his career. The Leicester City No 10 sat down with his manager, Brendan Rodgers, to refocus on the fundamentals of what makes Maddison a good player and the work required to accentuate those qualities. It was a reset, part tactical, part technical, part psychological. It’s a lesson for all those struggling for form.

 

Immediately after the meeting, Maddison responded with a goal against Brentford on October 24, then had a brief dip, but has now fully absorbed Rodgers’s advice and has six goals and five assists in his past eight games. Leicester may be misfiring, but Maddison is a bright light amid the gloom.

 

Rodgers and Maddison analysed clips of the player in prime form, receiving the ball on the half-turn, moving it forward more quickly, playing with more of a swagger than in his subdued performances earlier in the season. Maddison is such a confidence player. Rodgers, such a good man-manager, reinvigorated him, making him believe more.

 

It was more than an uplifting chat and jolly scroll through Maddison’s greatest hits. They looked at areas Maddison should concentrate on improving. Rodgers could see that Maddison was working to try to regain his form but was blindly working at everything. So during their meeting Rodgers provided some clarity, encouraging Maddison to work on only a few things.

 

He is moving the ball forward more swiftly and precisely. He is more “efficient”, to borrow Rodgers’s description. Maddison’s work out of possession has definitely improved since their meeting, his tackling, tracking back and pressing. He is involved more consistently throughout games, rather than drifting in and out. Maddison has been prone to streaks in form at Leicester since signing from Norwich City for £22.5 million in 2018.

 

His decision-making has clearly improved, as evidenced by his part in Ademola Lookman’s goal in the 6-3 Boxing Day defeat away to Manchester City. The moment Maddison picked the ball up he was on the front foot. Each touch had value. There was no showboating, just driving forward, placing his boot on the top of the ball to drag it away from Ilkay Gundogan. A burst of pace and close control took him past Oleksandr Zinchenko. He stayed calm as Fernandinho thundered in, focusing on passing to Kelechi Iheanacho, who then set up Lookman.

 

Maddison divides opinion. After showing appreciation on his Instagram on Sunday to the travelling Leicester fans, “especially at this time of year”, Maddison was inundated with replies ranging from the usual tribal barbs about getting pumped by Liverpool tonight and about diving, but also plenty of praise, such as “great to have the old Madders back”.

Maddison is free of the hip injury that had restricted his movement and his fluency has returned

 

Some simply celebrate the joy he brings to fans through his skill with both still and moving ball, and his natural exuberance as a player and a man. Others raise concerns over his consistency, his tendency to take a tumble (he apologised for a dive against Brighton & Hove Albion in 2018) and occasional overelaboration, and also his off-field behaviour, such as a breach of Covid regulations in April. Rodgers dropped him and warned: “To be a winner and to compete at the top end of this table, you have to act like a winner, and that winning mentality is a certain level of behaviour and a mindset.”

 

Rodgers has worked with elite midfield players, such as Steven Gerrard, who give everything for every second of every game of every season. Maddison is a completely different player and personality but Gerrard is an example of the consistency he needs to aspire to. The next step for Maddison is developing the mentality to contribute game after game after game for entire seasons, as the very best players do.

 

He has still to focus on his discipline, not tactically, as he is responding to Rodgers’s guidance of keeping the shape, but in temperament. He still has to beware accumulating bookings: he has three in his past five games for fouls on Fernandinho, Liverpool’s Naby Keita and Carney Chukwuemeka, of Aston Villa, all in the last 15 minutes of away games, signalling tiredness or frustration.

 

Maddison remains a work in progress, but that work is accelerating, and he turned 25 only last month. If regular inclusion in the England squad is the level he should be aiming for, and he was a huge fan of the national team growing up, then it’s a sorry sign of his failure to impose his undoubted talent consistently that he has been in four squads in three years and played only 34 minutes (against Montenegro at Wembley 25 months ago).

 

That solitary cap came a month after he caused frustration inside the England camp after withdrawing from the squad for the Czech Republic game, claiming to be unwell, but was then pictured in a casino. Don’t gamble with your career. Maddison could do worse than take a look at how the supreme professional Mason Mount performs on and off the field.

 

If Gareth Southgate picks on form then Maddison has a chance to be considered for a recall for the March internationals. But the England manager does not always pick on form, whatever he says. He looks at the player’s character. He wants to know how dedicated the player is. Southgate does his due diligence on how the player is around the hotel, the camp; does he mix well, does his confidence manifest itself in cockiness, a Maddison trait? Southgate is not an admirer of flash players. He wants those that deliver on the field and show humility off it. Basically, Mount.

 

On the field, nobody can argue with Maddison’s present work rate and determination to lift a struggling Leicester. His numbers over the past five weeks highlight his handsome contribution to the cause. In his past eight games, Maddison has scored and provided an assist against Legia Warsaw, scored and recorded two assists against Watford, scored against Southampton, had blanks against Aston Villa and Napoli, scored and provided assists against both Newcastle United and Liverpool and then scored against Manchester City.

 

There are other causes behind Maddison’s revival. He is free of the hip injury that restricted his mobility. When he runs, there is no hesitancy to his movement. He flows more. Also, he became a father recently and that inevitably accelerates the maturing, responsibility-taking process.

 

He showed his willingness to stand up and be counted with a nerveless penalty in the shoot-out against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup quarter-final, which Leicester lost. He is working hard to become an elite player.

 

Maddison just needs this mindset every day, on and off the pitch. That meeting with Rodgers must prove the turning point.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/9b740b1c-6755-11ec-b36e-12a90a7c0b99

[Sly]

A lot of us have had Children and it does impact your quality of life, in regards to reduce sleep etc. 

 

It maybe a case that his partner and himself have now adjusted to this and are  getting the right amount of sleep, balancing work life etc and are coming out of the other end. 
 

It’s a simple thing, however a first child is a major life changing event for anyone. 

[Guest Col city fan]

Looks like he’s gone and pulled again…

In this case a calf muscle?

😉

[Foxxed]

Any news on his injury?

[Chrysalis]

Sad news if the rumours are true as he had recovered to great form, but I suppose it was too much to ask to get through a game without an injury.

[baldeagle]

8 minutes ago, Chrysalis said:

Sad news if the rumours are true as he had recovered to great form, but I suppose it was too much to ask to get through a game without an injury.

I’m not sure it’s that bad he didn’t go straight down the tunnel when he came off. He wasn’t sat on the bench with ice on it and he was walking freely when he came on the pitch at the end . Also noticed when he came off being given a pouch so hopefully just cramp . 

[shailen]

 

 

Got to love Madders

 

[foxfanazer]

1 hour ago, shailen said:

 

 

Got to love Madders

 

To be fair he was probably asking for his shirt after the game 

[shiv]

Can we just appreciate how consistent Madders has been for us in recent weeks?

 

Looks to be pretty much back to his best and even when we’ve defended terribly he’s been the bright spark in our attacking play.

 

Great to see, Brendan’s chat with him clearly worked.

 

For me, what I’ve been most impressed with is the vast improvement in his off the ball work. He gets stuck in and isn’t shying away from challenges anymore.

 

Let’s hope his injury isn’t too serious!

Edited 29 December 2021 by shiv