BBC pundit Matthew Upson has criticised the form of Leicester City midfielder James Maddison in recent weeks following the Foxes’ loss to Chelsea.
The defeat means that Brendan Rodgers’ men will go into the final day of the season with their hopes of a Champions League finish in jeopardy, and a Liverpool win tonight would leave the situation out of their hands.
Their form in recent weeks has been somewhat inconsistent, with victories over the likes of Manchester United offset by losses to Newcastle United, and that could end up costing them big time.
And speaking on the BBC 5 Live Football Daily podcast, Upson thinks that the loss of Maddison’s form has been part of the reason for their stumble:
“I think the loss of form of Maddison, for me, stands out in a key stage of the season. He just hasn’t been himself in terms of what he was producing early to mid-stage of the season, was really impressive in my book, looking at it thinking, ‘Well, Gareth Southgate is going to take a hard line not to pick him in the England squad.’
“And in the last, I’d say, seven or eight games, the real crunch games where Leicester have needed that player to make something happen, win a match, match-winning pass, score a goal, he just hasn’t been able to produce it, and he was subbed again tonight.”
Is James Maddison Leicester's most important player?
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TIF Thoughts on Matthew Upson’s comments on James Maddison’s performances…
There is no doubting that Leicester have missed his influence on the pitch, with the 24-year-old failing to register a goal or an assist since February, and only managing to post a match rating above 7/10 on WhoScored once since his return from injury.
Although part of that was down to a hip injury that the club had to manage through the latter stages, you just hope that they have handled it well enough heading into the final game of the season, because they are going to need all the help that they can get if they are to stand any chance of avoiding missing out on the Champions League for the second consecutive year.
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