Tottenham Hotspur take on Manchester United on Sunday afternoon and one player is being backed to have a huge impact at Old Trafford.
Ange Postecoglou’s focus turns back to the Premier League as Tottenham Hotspur return to action on Sunday afternoon.
Thursday night’s 3-0 win over Qarabag was a great start to the Europa League campaign – despite Radu Dragusin’s early red card.
Spurs are now on the road in the Premier League as Postecoglou takes his side to Old Trafford to face Manchester United.
Tottenham drew 2-2 at United last season but beat Erik ten Hag’s side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium early into last term.
Spurs boss Postecoglou will be hoping to pick up a big away win – a first of the season after drawing at Leicester City and losing at Newcastle United.
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Danny Murphy on James Maddison
Tottenham dominated both of those games on the road and will be looking to do it again on Sunday afternoon.
Key to that approach is James Maddison as Tottenham will rely on him to turn possession and territory into clear-cut chances.
Maddison has earned huge praise having dazzled in Tottenham’s win over Brentford, recording a goal and an assist.
The Spurs playmaker will look to take that display into Sunday’s clash against United and Danny Murphy has picked him out as a player to watch.
Former Tottenham midfielder Murphy believes that United have to form a special plan in order to stop Maddison from dictating the game.
Murphy added that Maddison has been simply ‘excellent’ this season and claims that he is really taking his game to another level after missing out on a place at Euro 2024.
“I hope for his sake he’s been working on making special provision to stop James Maddison dictating the game — and exploiting the obvious weakness of Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario at set-pieces,” said Murphy.
“I’ve watched a lot of Spurs this season and think Maddison has been excellent after missing out on the Euros.
“He was the best player on the pitch against Leicester, played very well against Everton, pinned Newcastle back and was brilliant from a deeper position against Brentford, when he also scored.
“It’s brave of Ange Postecoglou to use him in a more withdrawn role because most managers wouldn’t rate Maddison’s defensive physicality. But Ange trusts his ability. United won’t be able to control the game, even at home, unless they try to nullify Maddison. They have to deny him space to get on the ball,” he added.
Postecoglou may go with an attack-minded midfield
Maddison will almost certainly start for Tottenham against United, unless there is a late injury or illness problem which hasn’t been noted in public.
Postecoglou must then decide whether to again go with Dejan Kulusevski in a midfield role away from home.
The Spurs boss has yet to utilise that setup in his engine room away from home this season.
Kulusevski started on the bench at Leicester and featured in attack in the defeat at Newcastle.
Maddison and Kulusevski are both technical, forward-thinking players who can unpick defences but many managers would feet that playing both of them is just too bold on the road.
Postecoglou will be tempted to go that way though with Maddison and Kulusevski potentially able to take up positions to really trouble United’s relatively slow midfield.
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