James Maddison opens up on finally scoring a free-kick for Spurs
James Maddison is pleased that Tottenham fans have finally been able to see one of his strengths, which he has not been able to showcase so far since his move to the North London club.
James Maddison comes off the bench to make a difference
James Maddison has been named on the bench for Tottenham‘s last two matches against Manchester City and Aston Villa.
While the attacking midfielder would have been hurting, he responded in the best way possible, coming on as a substitute on Sunday and finding the back of the net to put the icing on the cake for the Lilywhties, who emerged 4-1 winners over the Villans.
The Tottenham man was particularly pleased that he got his goal from a free-kick, which is the first he has converted as a Spurs player.
Maddison’s confession about free-kicks
The Spurs vice-captain pointed out that scoring indirect free-kicks is one of his biggest strengths, but he has not been able to showcase that at Spurs so far.
Maddison pointed out that Tottenham have not really had too many set-pieces in great positions during his time at the club, and admitted that he was glad to finally stick one away.
The midfielder told The Mirror: “I think last season was the first year I ever had in my whole career where I didn’t score a direct free-kick. I have scored quite a few I reckon, maybe 15-16 direct free-kicks, so it annoyed me last year that I didn’t get one.
“I know I can be dangerous from them, but I probably haven’t shown it to Spurs fans yet. To be honest, I don’t feel like we have had that many good opportunities for whatever reason – we don’t seem to get direct free-kicks in good positions.
“We just haven’t had that many good positions for free-kicks and penalties as well. But that was a good position (against Villa) and I managed to stick it away. How much training goes into that execution? About 25 years probably! I love free-kicks, and I always did because I loved Becks and I was a Manchester United fan when I was young.
Maddison’s free-kick technique
The Tottenham man revealed that while he idolised some of the great free-kick takers of yesteryear, he has his own unique technique, which he has mastered over the years.
He continued: “Becks and then Cristiano Ronaldo, they were both very good at free-kicks although they used different techniques. I used to idolise people who were good at free-kicks. I was always in the garden practising. I mastered my own technique over the years and scored a fair few, a good few in the Premier League. Hopefully I get a few more.”
Maddison can take even more satisfaction from the fact that he beat Emiliano Martinez, who was crowned best goalkeeper in the world at last week’s Ballon d’Or awards.
When asked about the fact that his strike left the Argentine unmoved, the 27-year-old responded: “Yeah, it was a nice one, wasn’t it? It can be difficult sometimes, the really close ones which are right on the edge of the box. You haven’t got as much time to get it up and down, so it’s why I took it a little bit quicker.”
“As soon as the whistle went, I was already leaning into it, to try and catch Martinez out a bit, because he’s a good goalkeeper. Thankfully it went into that top bracket.”
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