Why isn't Europe's Most Creative Player in the England Squad?

[volpeazzurro]

Whatever they are and however these stats are obtained,  the fact is he's a considerable way off a senior England cap, he's simply not good enough. That isn't meant in a spiteful way because he has the raw talent to get there IF he gets some good coaching and listens to what he is being told!

[Cincinnati Fox]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

James Maddison: Better than Messi and Hazard, why isn't Europe's most creative player in the England squad?
Playing as a number 10, he has shown the technical skill, awareness and set-piece precision that surely warrants a place in this squad but Southgate disagrees

Jack Pitt-Brooke @jackpittbrooke

Eden Hazard has created 74 chances this season, and Lionel Messi has created 76, but at the very top of the tree, the most creative player in Europe’s top five leagues this season is an Englishman: James Maddison of Leicester City.

 

Maddison has created 81 goalscoring chances this season, putting him joint top with Atalanta’s Alejandro Gomez and Lyon’s Memphis Depay. It is a remarkable record, especially given that unlike Hazard, Messi and the rest, this is Maddison’s first ever season at this level. He only made his Premier League debut seven months ago.

 

Since then, Maddison has impressed for Leicester City, first under Claude Puel and now under new manager Brendan Rodgers. Playing mostly as a number 10, he has shown the technical skill, awareness and set-piece precision he has had ever since he first broke into the Coventry City team at the age of 17. And having learned his trade at Coventry, Norwich City and Aberdeen, he has an unfussy physicality that many players his age lack.

Maddison’s progress at Leicester saw him rewarded with promotion into the senior squad last October, for England’s Nations League group games in Croatia and Spain. Along with Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho, he added a youthful feel to Southgate’s group.

 

And yet five months on, with England preparing their squad for their forthcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Montenegro, the start of a new cycle, Maddison is not in the group. Instead he is with Aidy Boothroyd’s England Under-21 squad for their home friendlies against Poland and Germany, preparation for the European Under-21 Championships in Italy in June.

Even though there are absences among England’s preferred attacking midfielders, with Jesse Lingard out injured and Harry Winks not fit enough to be in the squad either. Even then, Maddison still did not make the cut.

So Gareth Southgate was asked about this at his press briefing at St George’s Park on Wednesday afternoon, after the squad list was announced. "I think there are others in the attacking positions ahead of him,” he said. 

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Southgate pointed to the fact that Maddison has mainly played as a 10 in a 4-2-3-1 for Leicester. England did not use a 10 in their 3-5-2 and they do not now either in their 4-3-3. Meaning that Maddison would have to play deeper to get a game.

“I think he’s a number 10 and, at the moment, we’ve not been playing with a 10. In the 10 position we’ve also got Dele [Alli] and Raheem [Sterling], Marcus [Rashford], Jesse [Lingard], although Jesse is not available this time. So I think he’s in with a really strong under-21 group, but at the moment I think that others are ahead of him.”

But Maddison has proven that he can play deeper than a no10 role, earlier in his career and even in Leicester’s game against Fulham earlier this week, when he moved into a central midfield role in a 4-4-2. And in those midfield roles Southgate has picked players who are struggling for a look-in at their clubs: Fabian Delph, eight league starts all season, none since he was sent off on Boxing Day, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who has started one league game all season.

All Maddison can do is continue to work hard and impress for the U21s and Leicester, but his new manager Brendan Rodgers has no doubt that he will.

“England have a whole raft of good players but I have no doubt he will improve as a player,” Rodgers said on Thursday. “He has the last pass you don’t see a lot of midfield players. He is a huge talent and he can play forward very quickly because he has vision in his game. We want to add intensity and goalscoring to help him. He is a wonderful player and he has made great strides. I see a lot of potential and he is willing to work on his game."

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/england-squad-2019-james-maddison-leicester-city-gareth-southgate-messi-hazard-a8824231.html

Watch games with your eyes, don’t always trust the stats

[Stadt]

It's not stats in general it's just "chances created" lacks a lot of context, big chances created or xG in absolute terms are better indicators.

[murphy]

I agree, it is a totally misleading stat, but Maddison's chance will come.

[Nod.E]

How many of those 'chances created' are corners he's taken or passes to N'didi who shoots every time he gets the ball within 30 yards? 

 

We have a lot of corners because we dominate teams at home without ever breaking them down. So we end up with a lot of deflected long range shots resulting in corners.

 

I'm a big fan of statistics but this one is one of the loosest.

[UPinCarolina]

The better question is whether he fits with the England squad as currently constructed? I would argue no - but he'll be a fixture for years to come as some of the older members age out, and the side's character and play evolve.

[Guest Col city fan]

The real question here is why is Ryan Fraser at Bournemouth?

[Beechey]

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

It's not stats in general it's just "chances created" lacks a lot of context, big chances created or xG in absolute terms are better indicators.

Agree completely. Still, illustrious company in that list.

[KingsX]

4 hours ago, FIF said:

Personally I'm so happy that we now have James, Tielemans and Barnes in the same team

 

[The Horse's Mouth]

There's a lot in that squad he deserves to be in over, how has Ross Barkley made it fgs 

[Claridge]

Hope mendy or hamza replaces him tomorrow , never mind England

[Beechey]

32 minutes ago, Claridge said:

Hope mendy or hamza replaces him tomorrow , never mind England

I remember a lot of "derrr why are we playing 2 defensive midfielders against teams at the bottom of the league?!!??!"

[norwichfox]

5 hours ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

So who's been missing all these 'goalscoring chances' for us then?

Puel apparently....

[Stadt]

1 minute ago, Beechey said:

I remember a lot of "derrr why are we playing 2 defensive midfielders against teams at the bottom of the league?!!??!"

Maddison’s performances of late have deserved criticism but we’d be deep in trouble without him this season 

[car1os]

I think we sometimes promote the youngsters a bit too early to the main England squad.  It's better to keep him in the U21's at the moment, keep him hungry to get better and succeed, and this will benefit both City and Maddison in the long run

[Wolfox]

5 hours ago, Stadt said:

It's not stats in general it's just "chances created" lacks a lot of context, big chances created or xG in absolute terms are better indicators.

Best Englishman…. Not too shabby for your debut prem season

 

2 hours ago, KingsX said:

 

Still makes me sad…. I rated him well ahead of Drinkwater when they came through…. We’ll never really know what he could’ve become…

[HankMarvin]

Does chance created include corners 

cos he puts in about 6 a game

[Livid]

Iheanacho had the best goals per minutes played in the PL stat a couple of years ago........Enough said!!

[oxford blue]

46 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

Does chance created include corners 

cos he puts in about 6 a game

Even under the most generous interpretation of a chance, most of Maddison's corners would not count towards this stat.

[Clarkey123]

Good call, will only make him more hungry to earn his place

[Bert]

Because he’s not been good enough. Is that simple. 

[lcfcell]

Because he uses Instagram ??? 

[FoxFossil]

I think Europe's most creative player isn't in the England squad because he's Argentinian. Think this might be a factor. 

[La-li-lu-le-lo]

It’s a bit of an ominous stat anyway.... what does it actually mean? the amount of times he has played a ball beyond the last defender, or the amount of times he’s successfully breached the oppositions back four finding Vardy at al, in the process? 

[Tom12345]

13 hours ago, AjcW said:

I think decisions like this actually show that Southgate is a really good manager, chance creation stats are nice, but there's been a number of holes in his game over the last 6 months that outweigh the positives. Keeping him in the U21's for now is the correct decision. 

Absolutely. Most Leicester fans who have been watching him this season know that he has been pretty average this season. The stats do not show at all the quality of those chances. See various Maddison threads.  He has done a little bit better in the last two games but far far from being Europe’s most creative player!! Putting him even in the same sentence as Messi and Hazard is a real embassment really - the author knows nothing about football.