Tottenham Hotspur travels to Leicester City on Saturday, where they will face a player with whom they have been linked in the past.
Cristian Stellini has admitted that Leicester midfielder James Maddison is a player that Tottenham boss Antonio Conte and the coaching staff like ahead of Saturday’s clash at the King Power Stadium.
Spurs have been linked with the 26-year-old for years and were heavily mooted with finally making a move last summer after the England international contributed 18 goals and 12 assists to Leicester’s season. Despite a knee injury that ended his World Cup chances, this season has still brought another eight goals and four assists from 17 games from Maddison despite the Foxes’ difficult campaign which has them 14th in the Premier League.
Tottenham travels to Leicester on Saturday for the first time since last season’s dramatic 3-2 victory at the King Power Stadium with two Steven Bergwijn goals in added time snatching the three points away from the hosts. Maddison scored that night last January and assistant boss Stellini admits the midfielder, who has a contract until the summer of 2024, is someone the coaching staff like.
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“We like Maddison like a player. He is an important player in this league, a player with an important type of skill, like his delivery, his cross, his right foot is a very important foot so he shoots, he crosses, he takes the set-pieces,” he said. “He is a player you have to take care of. When you play against this player, you have to be careful.
“When you feel how important is this type of skill, for sure you like this type of player. He’s a player with talent. At the moment he’s playing for Leicester, a team we play against. We take care of him like an opponent.”
Spurs have a lot to play for in the second half of the season, as they are currently fifth in the Premier League, three points behind third-placed Manchester United, and are also in the last 16 of the Champions League and the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Conte and his staff had full weeks last season to work with the team in between games after their Covid-enforced exit from the Europa Conference League. Stellini seeks consistency regardless of the number of fixtures on the horizon.
“You plan on working the entire week to build this type of endurance. “When you have a full week to work, you need to plan in that type of week to create something for the player to arrive until the end of the season well, like we did last season,” he said.
“This season we have the Champions League to play, more than last season, but we are prepared to do this. We understand how to handle this situation. We will comply. Our expectation is for a consistent mentality from now until the end of the season. It’s all about the mindset. We hope to play a lot of games. You must recover, play, recover, and play again. mind more than last season.”
Son Heung-min has scored several eye-catching goals against Leicester and appears to be back in form, according to Stellini, who believes he’s been more like his old self in the last month.
“If you think about Sonny the way I do, he has played incredible games in the last three or four games. Even when he didn’t score, he contributed to the team’s success “According to the assistant head coach. “I could show you games where Sonny was crucial in a defensive situation, and how important his ability to run, attack the space, and create space for the other players is. It isn’t just about scoring goals.
“This is my understanding. I want Sonny to keep playing (like this) and then the goal will arrive for a player like him, and we are here to wait for that moment with him, to work with him.”
He went on to say: “Every striker wants to score every game, but there are times and games when you score more, and every time you shoot, you hit the target and score. When you shoot a lot, you can get unlucky. As coaches, what Sonny does for the team is important to us, and when Sonny scores, we like him every time, but he played amazing games.
“If you’re a player like Sonny, and he scored three goals in a game, you’d think that with this boost, Sonny would be a player who can score more. It could come as a surprise, but we all know how common this type of thing is in football. happy
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