Ange Postecoglou shares why James Maddison is in such good form now for Tottenham compared to last season

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Tottenham Hotspur will hope to build on their decent form to get off to a good start in their Europa League campaign.

Spurs have steadied the ship following a mixed start to the season thanks to victories over Coventry City and Brentford last week.

Now, Tottenham will look to continue on their good form as they welcome Azeri champions Qarabag FK to N17 on Thursday night.

Spurs’ last game was a 3-1 win over Brentford in the Premier League, a game in which James Maddison was at his unplayable best.

Now, Ange Postecoglou has shared what he “can just sense” about Maddison, based on what he’s seen from the £40million man in the past few weeks.

Tottenham ace James Maddison now fully match-fit and getting better with each passing matchday

Postecoglou, speaking at his pre-match press conference, was asked about Maddison seemingly playing in a deeper role.

“I wouldn’t say he’s changed his role, he’s doing exactly the same as last year,” football.london quotes him as saying. “I think if you look back early last year, very similar.

“I’ve said all along the key to Madders is if he’s physically good and he’s getting to that level of where he’s able to cover ground to receive the ball wherever we need him to, whether that’s deep or wide.

“But then the ability to really beat players on the dribble and then contribute to attacking play, not just one phase of play. He’s getting involved in two, three phases of play.”

Postecoglou then went on to speak about Maddison’s fitness, which was an issue last season, and explained what has changed between then and now.

“To do that physically that’s really important for Madders,” the Spurs boss continued. “If you look back to early last year he was doing very similar things for us to what he was doing at the weekend.

“It was only when he was came back from injury that he kind of struggled because I don’t think physically he was where he needed to be.

“He’s had a good, strong pre-season and I can just sense every game he’s feeling better and better about how he’s feeling. When he does that I think he’s able then to play the role we need him to.”

READ MORE: Tottenham’s James Maddison hails £33m Aston Villa player

Could Maddison play against Qarabag?

Although Maddison is in great form, the logical thing to do would be to give him a rest against Qarabag and then start him again at Manchester United this weekend.

Lucas Bergvall seems likely to take Maddison’s place in the starting XI, while the likes of Archie Gray, Pape Matar Sarr, Yves Bissouma and Mikey Moore could also feature against Qarabag.

When do Tottenham kick off against Qarabag?

Spurs’ game against the champions of Azerbaijan is scheduled to kick off at 8pm BST on Thursday evening at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.