James Maddison topped PL chart this weekend despite playing just 45 minutes
Despite being taken off at half-time in the win over West Ham on Saturday afternoon, James Maddison managed to do something no other player in the Premier League could this weekend.
Maddison sacrificed for tactical shake-up
With the scores level at 1-1 at the interval on Saturday, James Maddison was replaced by Pape Matar Sarr, and many suspected the playmaker had picked up an injury.
That theory was soon put to bed, as it emerged Ange Postecoglou had decided to make a tactical switch that would allow Sarr to offer extra protection in the middle of the park while Dejan Kulusevski ventured further forward in attacking areas.
The move proved to be a successful one, with Kulusevski pulling the strings as Tottenham went on to trounce West Ham 4-1.
But, that’s not to say Maddison wasn’t influential in the first half. Far from it, in fact, as data from the weekend suggests he was actually highly creative in his 45 minutes on the pitch.
Spurs record for Maddison
As per information from Squawka pertaining to this weekend’s Premier League games, James Maddison was actually responsible for more chances created than any other player in the division.
Maddison registered five chances created in that first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, putting him top of the pile. Behind him, former Spurs midfielder Harry Winks registered four chances created, as did Ryan Manning, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Youri Tielemans, and Marcus Rashford.
Interestingly, Maddison has now equalled a Spurs record that had stood for more than 20 years. He is the first player since Darren Anderton back in 2003 to create five or more chances in a Premier League game while playing 45 minutes or fewer.
Versatile midfield key for Postecoglou
I have seen some saying that the success of that substitution at the weekend means that Maddison should be dropped, which is nonsense. He’s still absolutely crucial to the midfield, as these statistics prove. All it means is that we have a midfield roster that can chop and change to suit our needs at any given time, and that’s brilliant.
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