James Maddison reaction to Son Heung-min moment as Ange Postecoglou Tottenham issue continues

It is now 16 defeats in 30 Premier League games for Tottenham this season. It is an unacceptable record and one that could potentially get even worse with the fixtures still left on the calendar.

Still to face Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion in the run-in, Spurs could quite easily be defeated 20 times or more in a league campaign. Ipswich Town, who occupy the final relegation spot after 30 games, have only lost two more games than the Lilywhites in the Premier League this season, which only highlights how wretched this campaign has been for the north London club.

Tottenham fans undoubtedly travelled to Chelsea on Thursday evening not expecting much considering their record at Stamford Bridge during the Premier League era. Once again, they were defeated in SW6 as Enzo Fernandez scored the only goal of the game as the Blues strengthened their Champions League aspirations.

Tottenham were rather lucky that the encounter was not out of sight in the opening 45 minutes going on the amount of openings Chelsea created. Guglielmo Vicario produced a couple of good saves and the post also came to their rescue after Micky van de Ven's clearance hit Nicolas Jackson and cannoned against the woodwork.

Tottenham, on the other hand, created very little and it wasn't until towards the end of the first half when Robert Sanchez was called into action to get a hand to a low cross from Son Heung-min with Lucas Bergvall and Djed Spence lurking. Even when Tottenham did get into some good positions, the final ball let them down.

One example came inside the first couple of minutes as they moved swiftly upfield and Son had the ball towards the left of the box. The Tottenham captain opted to go himself and it was Malo Gusto who produced a good block to deny him.

James Maddison was on the edge of the box at that moment in time and his reaction said everything. The vice-captain had raced upfield to join in the attack and he was in the perfect position with nobody around him.

Maddison had acres of space to get on the ball and test Sanchez, only for Son to opt against cutting the ball back for his teammate to go himself. The attacking midfielder held both arms out after the chance had gone and spun around to signal the amount of space he was in.

It was incredibly wasteful on Son's part and it didn't really get much better for Spurs when they tried to punish Chelsea in the final third. They did manage to find the net midway through the second half courtesy of Pape Matar Sarr's long-range strike but it was chalked off following a VAR check.

It proved to be quite a talking point after the match as Postecoglou could be seen cupping his ear in the direction of the travelling fans after they had scored following cries of 'you don't know what you're doing' only a few minutes earlier after a double substitution that involved Sarr taking the place of Bergvall. Tottenham weren't too far away from restoring parity in the 90th minute as Sanchez was on hand to stop Son converting Brennan Johnson's cross to the far post.

Across the game, Tottenham managed two shots on target from a total of eight attempts. Striker Dominic Solanke didn't even have one shot in the game and he was limited to only a single touch in the Chelsea box.

It was once again a familiar story in the final third and not good enough from Tottenham, especially at a time when Postecoglou now has the vast majority of his players at his disposal after an injury-ravaged season to date. Speaking after the game, he admitted that his side "should have been a little bit more clinical in that front third".

James Maddison spoke to Sky Sports in a post-match interview and mentioned they have to be better going forward. He said: "It hurts a lot, it’s been one too many times this season, our fans are rightly disappointed. We are disappointed and we just try hard to search for the answers why we are not getting the results in the tight games.

"We have lost so many games this season by a one-goal margin that we are not on the right side of. I don’t really want to be out here [doing an interview after a defeat] and I’m sure the fans don’t want to hear it either. We just have to try be better going forward."

Tottenham now have to put things right against Southampton on Sunday in the Premier League. With Eintracht Frankfurt coming up in their following game, it has to click for the team in the final third at home to Saints and also right across the pitch.

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