James Maddison wows BBC pundit, Fulham ‘caught cold by brilliant Tottenham star’
James Maddison stunned Andy Reid with a “brilliant” free-kick that almost opened the scoring for Tottenham against Fulham.
It was a frustrating first-half for Ange Postecoglou’s side on Sunday (1st December) as they struggled to create chances against the Cottagers.
However, Maddison did go close to putting them ahead shortly before the break, with a free-kick around 20 yards out, on the left of the penalty area.
With Fulham not leaving a man lying behind the wall to block a low shot it was that route that the Tottenham man elected to take with his effort.
The strike would fly beneath a jumping wall, before clipping the inside of the post, and running out for a goal kick.
Commenting on that effort on BBC Sport (14:20), former Spurs midfielder Reid said: “It’s a brilliant free kick from James Maddison. If you need a perfect example why teams put a draught excluder in, it’s there!”
James Maddison becoming key for Tottenham once again
Football Insider Opinion
After missing out on the Europa League clash with Roma in midweek, it was no surprise to see Maddison back in the starting lineup here.
The attacker was outstanding in the thrashing of Man City last weekend, shutting down any questions over his place in the side after a spell out of the starting lineup.
He then backed that up here, looking like being one of the few Tottenham players being capable of breaking through the Fulham defence in the first-half.
This free-kick was perhaps the best example of that, and if it had been just a few more inches to the right Bernd Leno would have been beaten, and his side would have been ahead before the break.
With contributions such as this though, the 28-year-old is doing his chances of staying in the starting XI no harm at all, which could be timely given the club’s links with other attackers, so Maddison is well on his way to becoming an integral part of this Spurs team again going forward.
It was ultimately Brennan Johnson who opened the scoring in the second half, but Postecoglou’s men were pegged back by Tom Cairney and weren’t able to take advantage of the same man being sent off for a challenge on Dejan Kulusevski as the game finished 1-1.
In other news, Real Madrid have been linked with a move for a Tottenham player.
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