Manchester United legend Roy Keane was disappointed by James Maddison’s performance in Tottenham’s defeat to Newcastle on Sunday.
The North London club were heading into this fixture against Newcastle United on the back of an impressive 4-0 win against Everton. They were quite high on confidence and were expected to give Eddie Howe’s team a tough time. While Spurs dominated the ball and created a truckload of chances, they couldn’t make the most of it and defensive errors led to a 2-1 defeat in the end.
Roy Keane was not pleased with James Maddison’s performances on the night and he criticised the £40 million rated midfielder for his involvement in Newcastle’s opening goal which was scored by Harvey Barnes. While he was mainly critical of their central defender’s position when the ball came into the box, the former United skipper feels Maddison could have done much better in that situation.
While speaking on Sky Sports (h/t TBR Football), Keane said: “Really poor quality in the game but the finish is brilliant, lovely first touch.
“But the Spurs players, it’s just their body language, they just switch off for the throw and you see, they’re having a breather at the wrong time.
“They get some bodies back but they’re all in the one line, and I’m always asking when the ball comes in towards the middle of your box – where are your two centre-halves?
“Maddison has got to do better but it’s the two centre-halves, you see a couple Spurs players there waving their arms up in the air – forget about that lads, someone get out to it.
“They just switch off for a split second.”
After Anthony Gordon’s free-kick was cleared, Spurs tried to regroup but before things could settle down, a quickly taken thrown-in found them in a spot of bother. The ball was played down the left to Lloyd Kelly who ended up crossing it into the box for Harvey Barnes to smash it into the back of the net.
Keane has criticised the former Leicester player as he didn’t do enough to stop the ball from coming into the box. A bit more effort from his end could have helped Spurs avoid the goal they conceded in the first half.
