James Maddison given brutal reality check after being hauled off at half-time for Tottenham

Former Leicester City favourite James Maddison has been told to up his game if he wants to secure his spot in Tottenham's line-up. The midfielder was substituted at half-time during Spurs' victory over West Ham on Saturday. Despite the match being tied 1-1 at half-time, with Dejan Kulusevki equalising after Mohammed Kudus' opening goal for the Hammers, Maddison was replaced by Pape Sarr.

This decision proved fruitful as Spurs went on to score three more goals, securing a 4-1 win. Former Chelsea player Tony Cascarino warned Maddison of the potential risk to his starting position in The Times, stating: "He [Postecoglou] has put the challenge of changing Tottenham 's mentality and notoriously soft centre on his shoulders. I liked that he was prepared to make a big call and withdraw James Maddison at half-time," and "It would have sent a message to every player that their place is not assured after the Brighton debacle.



Maddison was a big signing last year and I have no doubt he would have taken the timing of the substitution personally. Postecoglou can manage the situation." "But Maddison may reflect on his delivery, especially from corners, and work rate.

Maddison is no longer a promising young player. He turns 28 next month and needs to impose himself on matches. He finds himself out of the England squad and his starting place for Spurs is no longer guaranteed.

" Postecoglou was adamant he had made the right decision when speaking after the game. The Australian hailed the performance of Sarr, who he insisted played a key role in Spurs winning the midfield battle. "We needed more running power in midfield and Pape [Sarr] has lots of that, bags of energy and running.

He really helped us to get control of the midfield and that gave us a good platform to go forward," Postecoglou told Match of the Day. "Our general play improved from there and we looked dangerous going forward. We knew there had been a bit of an arm wrestle and we always back ourselves to keep going at the intensity we always do and upping it and taking the game to West Ham.

" "We knew that putting them under pressure here at home we would eventually get there. We had to fight hard in the first half. Going a goal down wasn't ideal but we clawed our way back into it, and it is not easy.

" "Second half we were outstanding. We upped the tempo and played some quality football, defended when we needed to and got our finishing right. We want to be that sort of side that creates lots of chances.

".