Ange Postecoglou may unleash a brand-new Tottenham pairing against Brentford at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Tottenham‘s FA Cup hopes are finished for another season following a late exit at the hands of Manchester City on Friday evening. Not doing enough to challenge the visitors in the final third but keeping them at bay, it appeared that the sides would meet in a cup replay in Manchester.
However, Nathan Ake ensured that this was not the case in the 88th minute by turning the ball home on the line from a Kevin De Bruyne corner. Tottenham had claimed for a foul on Guglielmo Vicario as Ruben Dias fought the ball with the shot-stopper, but the judgement went in favour of the visitors.
After only one chance on goal in a dismal performance, Ange Postecoglou brought on the returning James Maddison with 18 minutes remaining as they looked for a late winner. The 27-year-old was unable to influence the game after only getting six touches on the ball at a time when Pep Guardiola‘s team was putting pressure on the Lilywhites.
Postecoglou admitted in his pre-match press conference that Maddison was ready to start after missing nearly three months due to an ankle injury, but chose to ease the England international back in. Despite throwing Cristian Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur into the starting lineup ahead of schedule after their quick recoveries, the ex-Leicester City player was not included.
“Not really,” Postecoglou said in his post-game press conference when asked if the decision not to start the player was close. “I believe that given the importance of the game today, he has trained well over the last week and a half, but he has missed a lot of football.
“We were expecting to get him some minutes tonight, which he did, and he should be fine from now on, but there are two more games next week, and we need him and others to pitch in. So it wasn’t a difficult decision whether to start him or not. I really believed that coming off the bench would benefit us as a team more than anything else.
Maddison now has a couple more days to work on his fitness ahead of Wednesday’s home game against Brentford, and he looks increasingly set to start in midweek. Given Spurs‘ struggles in the final third against Manchester City, with little evidence of a deadly pass, starting the attacking ace is an essential must for Postecoglou.
The encounter will also provide the head coach with the opportunity to play Maddison and Bentancur in midfield for the first time in a Tottenham shirt. It appeared that the Manchester City Cup match might be the chance for Postecoglou to unleash both at the same time, but the Uruguayan was substituted by Maddison in the 72nd minute.
Even in Bentancur’s comeback game against Crystal Palace in October, there would be no playing time together because Maddison had only just left the field seconds before the midfielder returned after nearly nine months away. When everyone is fit, both players are key members of Postecoglou’s strongest midfield, but we have yet to see them together.
That should change in the coming weeks now that both players are healthy and available at such a critical point in the season. Because Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg played in a deeper midfield role in Manchester City‘s defeat, Bentancur and Maddison might be Spurs’ two No.8s at home against the Bees and then at Everton on Saturday.
The pair appear to have a solid connection already, as training footage from Hotspur Way in late October revealed evidence of a possible combination. During a possession-based game, the summer signing could be seen flicking the ball to a teammate with the outside of his boot before returning it.
The pair then played another quick one-two to neutralise Brennan Johnson as they moved away from the winger.
It’s now time for them to establish that relationship on the pitch for Tottenham; on Wednesday, Brentford could experience the full impact of Maddison and Bentancur combining for the first time. Postecoglou and Spurs will undoubtedly benefit from another early cup departure.
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