Maddison must toughen up and pick Leicester battles better

James Maddison has been constantly praised for the way he talks to the media, but it looks like his words are coming back to haunt him as the Leicester City players pathetically cling on to their Premier League status.

Leicester City not hungry enough

Fans have gotten used to seeing their team wilt on the pitch for some time now. They find new and inventive ways of throwing away points and gifting opponents goals in each game. With 21 defeats, this has been one of the worst seasons City fans can remember since the infamous 2007-2008 campaign. Those that can remember that far back will recall Ian Holloway infamously telling Foxes fans to “calm down and have a sandwich” as he saw the club fall to the lowest point in their history.

Although League One isn’t a problem – yet! – this imminent relegation is leaving the bitterest taste in the mouths of Leicester City fans and part of that is down to the complete lack of desire from the club’s extremely well-paid and highly-rated players. This was well acknowledged by the Foxes star man and England international James Maddison following the 5-3 defeat at Fulham:

"“…Not being aggressive, not being hungry enough to want to win the game, To get yourselves out of trouble you need to do the basics well and be aggressive and fight. That’s why we’re down there because we haven’t been good enough…”"

Social media disasters

Maddison has been praised by many in the football world early in his football career, they all seem desperate to give him a metaphorical pat on the head for being a clever and intelligent young footballer. Given the stock answers that in-house media teams have coached into today’s generation of players it’s not hard to see why ‘Madders’ stands out as a breath of fresh air. His comments in his interview were alarmingly honest. Admitting that the team lacked hunger in any capacity, be that in challenges or attitude is worrying with the grim reaper of relegation edging closer to the King Power Stadium. But wait, we might have missed something after he tweeted not long after:

The “way out of context” he is referring to is unnamed, but given the interview and his explanation on the tweet are nearly identical, it’s difficult to see what he’s talking about or why he seems annoyed. In two separate ways, he’s telling the world that the team lacks motivation. The second message alludes to the attitude and application being exactly where it needs to be in training despite his earlier interview claiming there were the things not right in matches.

He seems sensitive to criticism and like a moth to a flame eager to check social media after games. After getting embarrassed in a crucial game near the end of the season why would you go to the exact place you will find people taking things out of context? Earlier that afternoon, Leicester fans were already singing “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” to the team, that was the only opinion relevant to anything related to his actual job that day. Yet criticism of an interview seemed to be his main issue.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this sensitivity exposed. On the March 6, following a poor defeat to doomed Southampton, Leicester City journalist Rob Tanner wrote a stinging piece for The Athletic, titled:

"“This Leicester side buckle under the slightest pressure – and it could spell doom”"

Despite all Leicester fans accusing the players of this soft underbelly as far back as Summer 2020, it was a surprise that Maddison didn’t take kindly to this and ironically buckled under the pressure of criticism in the strangest of fashions.

Unfortunately, this response has now been copied and pasted thousands of times across Leicester City social media accounts as they try and make sense of what Nigel Pearson would claim were the words of an ostrich, as Maddison and the rest of the LCFC stars seem to have had their heads in the sand all season, particularly when defending. Tanner was spot on and looking back, the midfielder’s response was immature, ignorant and incorrect.

Missing when it matters

Regardless of what is wrong with Maddison’s social media reactions, to the naked eye he’s had a respectable season with an England call-up and strong numbers, particularly on assists. But this seems to have gone awry for the last few months. In the only win the Foxes have claimed in the last three months, Maddison was unavailable and has had two disastrous moments that could have huge ramifications for the season, those being a hospital pass that gifted Bournemouth the winning goal and a missed penalty that would have taken Leicester City 3-1 up at halftime against Everton.

Since returning from the world cup the No.10 has only scored three goals and only one in the last quarter of a year. That came from the spot against Fulham. Considering he is lauded as the star man, he’s gone missing way too often recently when he was needed and with supporters expecting him to leave in the summer as well as dozens of others, it’s not hard to see why fans question the desire of this squad. How many are really flying into challenges and putting their bodies on the line for the cause? Who is holding back to protect themselves and their futures?

This is not all Maddison’s fault by any means and he should not be singled out any more than anyone else for where Leicester City find themselves. But if he continues to misread the room and show more fight away from the pitch than he does on it, then he will only bring more pressure on himself. Choose your battles and do your talking on the pitch in these last few games and stop trying to find problems away from the main one that the club has got themselves into.

Reply to this article by banging in the winners at Liverpool and Newcastle and being the man of the match in the last game of the season. And get you and your massively overpaid teammates to do what you are paid millions to do!