Why Leicester City's number 10 insists he's not a number 10

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-citys-number-10-insists-4217730

 

The Leicester City midfielder has been discussing his best position, what he has had to learn, and having to wait a year to represent England at the European Championships

ByJordan Blackwell
19:27, 11 JUN 2020
SPORT

It may be on the back of his Leicester City shirt, but James Maddison does not want to be labelled as a number 10.

The midfielder says his best position is the box-to-box number eight role he now most regularly plays under Brendan Rodgers.

When he first arrived from Norwich, Maddison was considered an out-and-out attacking midfielder and spent much of his maiden City campaign in the hole behind Jamie Vardy.

But he now feels that the number 10 tag is not an accurate reflection of his qualities, with the 23-year-old adding a defensive nous to his game this term, when only Ricardo Pereira and Wilfred Ndidi have made more tackles for City.

“Number eight definitely,” Maddison said when asked for his preferred position. “I played as a number 10 at the start of last season, and then when the gaffer [Rodgers] came in, I transitioned into a number eight, and sometimes I play off the left.

 

“I don’t want to be labelled as a number 10. I’m not a number 10. I can’t remember a game where I’ve played as a number 10 this season, maybe West Ham at home.

“Being a number eight has made me add that defensive side to my game. I’m never going to be a big tackler, I’m never going to go around smashing people. It’s that awareness and that responsibility of getting little toes in, little interceptions, because as a number eight you find yourself deeper a lot, so I’ve had to add that.”

If the season had been played as planned, Maddison would potentially be gearing up for Euro 2020 with England now, rather than the final nine games of City’s season.

He’s trying to look at the positives of the European Championships being delayed until next summer.

“It's a tough one,” he said. “There’s positives and negatives. It’s mainly negatives in my head because anything that gets cancelled, you’re like: ‘No, I had a good chance, we’re third in the Premier League, I’ve been playing well this season.’ You think it could be something you miss out on.

“But if I think about it in the long run, I’ll be a year better off – a year of Champions League football if we can secure that – a year more experienced, a year older, and then I’ll be in an even better position next summer. It’s a long time away and a lot of things can change in that space of time.”

[Ric Flair]

Whatever he is, he needs to a) get rid of that little beard and b) look to get in to areas of the pitch where he can provide more assists and/or score more goals. His long range shooting from open play has improved significantly this season, but his corners and free kicks have seemingly been less effective as has his ability to find pockets of space in the final third to open teams up. Whether this is a consequence of him transitioning from playing further forward to now being box to box but he often sits far too deep and cannot then properly dictate the attacking play.

 

He's another who has barely got out of first gear in 2020, this 3 month break has hopefully given him a chance to rest and reflect and come back in to this weird practice match 9 game season and smash everything to bits. I want 4 goals and 4 assists minimum.

[norwichfox]

8 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Whatever he is, he needs to a) get rid of that little beard and b) look to get in to areas of the pitch where he can provide more assists and/or score more goals. His long range shooting from open play has improved significantly this season, but his corners and free kicks have seemingly been less effective as has his ability to find pockets of space in the final third to open teams up. Whether this is a consequence of him transitioning from playing further forward to now being box to box but he often sits far too deep and cannot then properly dictate the attacking play.

 

He's another who has barely got out of first gear in 2020, this 3 month break has hopefully given him a chance to rest and reflect and come back in to this weird practice match 9 game season and smash everything to bits. I want 4 goals and 4 assists minimum.

per game.....

[Voll Blau]

Odd that the number was nabbed from a club legend so he could have it then...

[StriderHiryu]

That's quite an interesting article. I think this has come about as a result of Southgate saying that Maddison is a number 10 which is why he was looked over for an England role for so very long. Now he plays more as an 8 like Liverpool and he got called up as a result.

 

That said I don't think he should shy away from being a 10. For me he is the most natural number 10 the country has produced since Gazza. The modern game has moved away from using such players... very few teams around Europe play with a Zidane type of player as the role is seen as being somewhat of a luxury as the pace of the game increases. But the thing is only a handful of players have the technical skill and creativity to play in such a way and even if Maddison does not play as a 10, his ability to pass and create should always be fostered and applauded. IMO there is no better creative player from a central position in the national team setup.

[RowlattsFox]

Maddison's best performances for us IMO have been when both he and Tielemans were playing as 8s. I can see why he'd want to distance himself from being solely a "number 10", I think that term has become a little outdated now, I don't know who would class as a classic number 10 these days, its merged into an all-round attacking midfielder role. Maddison should be looking at the likes of David Silva, De Bruyne as the sort of player he needs to become. He does come too deep to get involved unnecessarily and needs to become more dynamic.

[AKCJ]

33 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

Odd that the number was nabbed from a club legend so he could have it then...

All about the brand innit.

[UniFox21]

17 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

That's quite an interesting article. I think this has come about as a result of Southgate saying that Maddison is a number 10 which is why he was looked over for an England role for so very long. Now he plays more as an 8 like Liverpool and he got called up as a result.

 

That said I don't think he should shy away from being a 10. For me he is the most natural number 10 the country has produced since Gazza. The modern game has moved away from using such players... very few teams around Europe play with a Zidane type of player as the role is seen as being somewhat of a luxury as the pace of the game increases. But the thing is only a handful of players have the technical skill and creativity to play in such a way and even if Maddison does not play as a 10, his ability to pass and create should always be fostered and applauded. IMO there is no better creative player from a central position in the national team setup.

Think that's such an issue for players in general; look at Vardy, was labelled as only being able to play off the shoulder and subsequently never got a chance with England. Maddison labelled as a 10 to name two Leicester examples. Once a player gets that 'tag' they almost have to work significantly harder to shake that view of them. 

[AKCJ]

49 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Whatever he is, he needs to a) get rid of that little beard and b) look to get in to areas of the pitch where he can provide more assists and/or score more goals. His long range shooting from open play has improved significantly this season, but his corners and free kicks have seemingly been less effective as has his ability to find pockets of space in the final third to open teams up. Whether this is a consequence of him transitioning from playing further forward to now being box to box but he often sits far too deep and cannot then properly dictate the attacking play.

 

He's another who has barely got out of first gear in 2020, this 3 month break has hopefully given him a chance to rest and reflect and come back in to this weird practice match 9 game season and smash everything to bits. I want 4 goals and 4 assists minimum.

I think him going deeper gives better "numbers" to Barnes and Perez.

 

I think he's best played in the number 8 role where he can dictate play from deep.

[UniFox21]

35 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

Odd that the number was nabbed from a club legend so he could have it then...

I think i read King offered it to him

[les-tah]

He has much more impact on the game when he drops deeper. The number 10 myth came from Southgate who wants to Wank off players like Mason Mount and similar so he could put them ahead of him in the pecking order.

[Ric Flair]

3 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

I think him going deeper gives better "numbers" to Barnes and Perez.

 

I think he's best played in the number 8 role where he can dictate play from deep.

Possibly but is it any coincidence that since he has dropped deeper that Tielemans game is suffering too? Neither of them are hitting the same amount of assists as they did last season under Rodgers or the early part of this season. I think there's a development to our play that can still bring the best out of Maddison's creative game as well as allowing our two wide forwards to bring their creativity and end product to the table. With Ndidi being an absolute machine, we have the capacity for one of our box to box midfielders to look to play higher up in phases of the play and create. Also his positioning has no correlation with his decline in scoring free kicks this season or providing assists from corners and free kicks. Hopefully it's just a period of time where they've become less effective and it'll return but it's quite alarming compared to last season.

[AKCJ]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Possibly but is it any coincidence that since he has dropped deeper that Tielemans game is suffering too? Neither of them are hitting the same amount of assists as they did last season under Rodgers or the early part of this season. I think there's a development to our play that can still bring the best out of Maddison's creative game as well as allowing our two wide forwards to bring their creativity and end product to the table. With Ndidi being an absolute machine, we have the capacity for one of our box to box midfielders to look to play higher up in phases of the play and create. Also his positioning has no correlation with his decline in scoring free kicks this season or providing assists from corners and free kicks. Hopefully it's just a period of time where they've become less effective and it'll return but it's quite alarming compared to last season.

I think they've both played this role for some time, probably started around the time Brendan came in and Tielemans had some of his best games for us.

 

He's scored the most freekicks in the league in the last couple of years I think and he's created the most chances in the league over the last two seasons with only KDB bettering him this season.

 

 

[Guest Sharpe's Fox]

with the modern game as athletic and fast paced as it is I don't think that role can exist anymore.

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, AKCJ said:

I think they've both played this role for some time, probably started around the time Brendan came in and Tielemans had some of his best games for us.

 

He's scored the most freekicks in the league in the last couple of years I think and he's created the most chances in the league over the last two seasons with only KDB bettering him this season.

 

 

Under Rodgers last season they both were often pinned much higher up on the pitch, but that's not to say as a team we were any better. I just think there's some further fine tuning to do because at times Maddison drops too deep in pursuit of the ball and then we miss out on his excellence when the ball is moved through to the final third and he's not there.

 

The point I am making about his free kicks and set piece delivery is that last season he was phenomenal, this season it has really dried up. Hopefully it's just a patch, it happens but all in all he's been way less creative this season.

[OntarioFox]

6 hours ago, norwichfox said:

per game.....

Can we play Southampton 9 times please?

 

[Nicolo Barella]

18 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Whatever he is, he needs to a) get rid of that little beard and b) look to get in to areas of the pitch where he can provide more assists and/or score more goals. His long range shooting from open play has improved significantly this season, but his corners and free kicks have seemingly been less effective as has his ability to find pockets of space in the final third to open teams up. Whether this is a consequence of him transitioning from playing further forward to now being box to box but he often sits far too deep and cannot then properly dictate the attacking play.

 

He's another who has barely got out of first gear in 2020, this 3 month break has hopefully given him a chance to rest and reflect and come back in to this weird practice match 9 game season and smash everything to bits. I want 4 goals and 4 assists minimum.

In fairness I thought Maddison was pretty good this season, and was impressed with how his pressing has improved. His lower involvement with attack is probably tactical more than anything. He's also stood out in many "big" games - Arsenal at home, Liverpool away.

[Nicolo Barella]

15 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Under Rodgers last season they both were often pinned much higher up on the pitch, but that's not to say as a team we were any better. I just think there's some further fine tuning to do because at times Maddison drops too deep in pursuit of the ball and then we miss out on his excellence when the ball is moved through to the final third and he's not there.

 

The point I am making about his free kicks and set piece delivery is that last season he was phenomenal, this season it has really dried up. Hopefully it's just a patch, it happens but all in all he's been way less creative this season.

Honestly I think I have to disagree with you here, I think the shift has nothing to do with Maddison and everything to do with a change in Rodgers' tactics. Why he made that decision I won't pretend to know, but it's likely that he did it for a reason. Whilst Maddison has perhaps been less useful in attack because of it, hopefully he can find a way to contribute more in attack whilst still embodying this new role - for what it's worth, I think this season his defensive game has improved beyond Tielemans', and it makes sense for Maddison to act as the water carrier in our midfield because Tielemans is more easily pressed out of the game.

[CloudFox]

1 hour ago, Nicolo Barella said:

Honestly I think I have to disagree with you here, I think the shift has nothing to do with Maddison and everything to do with a change in Rodgers' tactics. Why he made that decision I won't pretend to know, but it's likely that he did it for a reason. Whilst Maddison has perhaps been less useful in attack because of it, hopefully he can find a way to contribute more in attack whilst still embodying this new role - for what it's worth, I think this season his defensive game has improved beyond Tielemans', and it makes sense for Maddison to act as the water carrier in our midfield because Tielemans is more easily pressed out of the game.

Agreed. Tielemans is best when he's given the ball in space, whereas Maddison thrives on receiving it in tight spaces and dancing his way through.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Never known why he's daubed with a load of "flash !!!!!" and "doesn't fancy it !!!!!" abuse from weirdos that'd happily field 11 Iain Humes when he's by far and away our most eloquent, interesting and sound speaker in interviews.

[sacreblueits442]

On 12/06/2020 at 10:33, AKCJ said:

I think him going deeper gives better "numbers" to Barnes and Perez.

 

I think he's best played in the number 8 role where he can dictate play from deep.

..I think he is a 10, he just does not execute in the role!!

 I have said before that he is too slow to slip a killer pass through, lack the pace to capitalize on his "back foot turn", he is just not a dynamic player.

 I have previously advocated that a switch with Tielemanns would be effective as Tielemanns would make the pass in the final third where Maddisons' split second delay would see us losing the opportunity.

 Taking the opportunity to effectively rebrand  his role is a pitch for a place in the England squad.

 

[Ric Flair]

18 hours ago, Nicolo Barella said:

In fairness I thought Maddison was pretty good this season, and was impressed with how his pressing has improved. His lower involvement with attack is probably tactical more than anything. He's also stood out in many "big" games - Arsenal at home, Liverpool away.

Maddison in 2019 was superb, Maddison in 2020 has barely got out of 2nd gear.

 

Dropped deeper and deeper and without Ndidi it made it very difficult for him to effect the game in the attacking third. His lack of assists both from set pieces and open play this season show a worrying sign too but hopefully the system can be fine tuned to get more out of him. He had seemingly improved his long range shooting for us from open play with some stunning goals and often in big games but it all got very mediocre again for the last 10-12 games before the pandemic.

 

18 hours ago, Nicolo Barella said:

Honestly I think I have to disagree with you here, I think the shift has nothing to do with Maddison and everything to do with a change in Rodgers' tactics. Why he made that decision I won't pretend to know, but it's likely that he did it for a reason. Whilst Maddison has perhaps been less useful in attack because of it, hopefully he can find a way to contribute more in attack whilst still embodying this new role - for what it's worth, I think this season his defensive game has improved beyond Tielemans', and it makes sense for Maddison to act as the water carrier in our midfield because Tielemans is more easily pressed out of the game.

You might be right, usually a player is governed by what they are told to do from their manager but ultimately Tielemans and Maddison are less creative and attacking for a fair chunk of this season and although we are 3rd I think we can do better in this regard. Hopefully it will all kick in to place again. Maddison certainly has the ability to be an unbelievable all round midfielder.

[TheSomersetFox]

So much time for Madders. Feel like he's one of those players that really 'gets' it and appreciates the fans. Helps that he's class too.

 

Very glad he's ours for now

[HighPeakFox]

4 hours ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

Never known why he's daubed with a load of "flash !!!!!" and "doesn't fancy it !!!!!" abuse from weirdos that'd happily field 11 Iain Humes when he's by far and away our most eloquent, interesting and sound speaker in interviews.

Jealousy.

[TJB-fox]

On 12/06/2020 at 10:12, StriderHiryu said:

That's quite an interesting article. I think this has come about as a result of Southgate saying that Maddison is a number 10 which is why he was looked over for an England role for so very long. Now he plays more as an 8 like Liverpool and he got called up as a result.

 

That said I don't think he should shy away from being a 10. For me he is the most natural number 10 the country has produced since Gazza. The modern game has moved away from using such players... very few teams around Europe play with a Zidane type of player as the role is seen as being somewhat of a luxury as the pace of the game increases. But the thing is only a handful of players have the technical skill and creativity to play in such a way and even if Maddison does not play as a 10, his ability to pass and create should always be fostered and applauded. IMO there is no better creative player from a central position in the national team setup.

most natural number 10 england has produced since gazza ****in hell mate thought you watched a lot of football