James Maddison already earning his Spurs in North London

Talent has never been an issue for the 26-year-old but his critics have always believed that channelling it has been a problem. Maddison has not always been flavour of the month with his own managers but his link up with Ange Postecoglou already looks to be a match made in heaven.

The bold, attacking football of the new Spurs fits in perfectly with the characteristics of Maddison. He is a player who wants to entertain, enjoys responsibility on the ball and is prepared to take chances. As we saw during Sunday’s North London derby, there are times when those chances will not come off. At one stage he was dispossessed by Gabriel Jesus on the edge of his own box and it almost cost his side.

But this is a Spurs team who have changed their principles. Postecoglou is asking his players to be courageous on the ball and Maddison was undaunted by the mistake.

“Neutrals talk about Tottenham and often say, ‘Soft, weak, bottle it Spurs’, all that rubbish,” he said after the 2-2 draw with Arsenal. “I think the last couple of weeks have shown we might be going in a slightly different direction.”

Maddison set up both goals for Heung-Min Son illustrating two different facets to his game in this area. There was an impudence about the way he cut past Bukayo Saka for the first goal, getting to the byline and then expertly cutting the ball back for the South Korean. Then Maddison showed his tenacity, pinching the ball from the feet of Jorginho before neatly laying a pass in front of Son who did the rest.

For much of his career to date the question of trust has weighed on managers’ minds when it comes to the big games. For England, Gareth Southgate has overlooked Maddison for major tournaments and even at Leicester, where he developed significantly under Brendan Rodgers, the midfielder was left on the bench for the biggest game of Rodgers’ tenure – the 2021 FA Cup final, against Chelsea.