Maddison: Patience & Resilience
- Leicester City displayed patience and resilience to beat Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday, says James Maddison
- The England international midfielder netted the opener in City’s 2-1 victory
- He praised Jamie Vardy for his role in the Foxes’ first goal of the afternoon
- Maddison also discussed his fitness after taking a knock in the first half
After a goalless first half came to an end, City took the lead 10 minutes into the second period thanks to Maddison’s well-executed drive.
An attack led by Harvey Barnes eventually saw Jamie Vardy tee up Maddison, whose powerful finish was added to by an equally impressive goal from Youri Tielemans.
Striker Andy Carroll came off the bench to pull a goal back for the hosts, but City showed their mettle to grind out the three points at St. James’ Park.
“[It was a] terrific away performance,” said Maddison to LCFC TV. “[It was] one where we had to show a bit of everything, to be honest – a bit of patience because I don’t think the first half was particularly brilliant.
Goals: Newcastle United 1 Leicester City 2
Enjoy James Maddison and Youri Tielemans' strikes against the Magpies in the Premier League.
“It probably wasn’t the best game for a neutral in the first half, I’d say, but we had to show patience, a bit of quality when the chances came, and then resilience at the end, which we’ve shown this season.
“I think our record away from home is brilliant, and it was no different. You come up against teams like Newcastle and we want to be winning those games. We’re going into the game as a big team and a team that knows that we should win, but also, at the same time, you can’t have that complacency, because that’s when you start to get bad results.
“I think we showed at the end there, they get the goal bringing on big Andy Carroll, who’s always a different type of threat.
“I thought we dealt with it well, especially in the closing stages, like JJ (James Justin) winning a foul in the corner, Jonny [Evans] sweeping up in the left channel – just little things and little bits of experience that maybe last year we might not have shown, especially New Year’s Day onwards, when we kind of tailed off a little bit. A convincing performance.”
The No.10’s sixth goal of the season in all competitions laid the foundations for City to go on and win the game in the second period, and when asked to recall his strike, he was full praise for striker Jamie Vardy.
He said: “It was one of them where I felt like I had all the time in the world. Vards (Jamie Vardy) obviously gets into those good positions with his runs, and Jamie Vardy doesn’t actually get the credit he deserves for the amount of assists he gets.
“He gets a lot of assist, and because he scores so many goals, it kind of goes under the radar. I can’t remember it too well, but I’m pretty sure Vards got in behind the left side, and I was running in the box, but I was almost getting blocked by the defenders – the line of view to the pass.
“I kind of just stood still and hung out on the edge of the box, and Vards noticed my movement, and pulled it back brilliantly.
“He had that vision, and then it was just a case of – that was when it felt like time stood still a bit, when it was rolling towards – staying composed and getting a good contact on the ball, and firing it in the net.
“Those types of finishes are what we practise in training, what I practise, so when you see one come off, it’s always nice.”
Following Maddison’s effort, Belgium international midfielder Tielemans made it 2-0 after sweeping home Marc Albrighton’s pin-point pass to round off a lovely move from the visiting side.
“Yes, a brilliant move,” commented Maddison. “I think he just out-pipped me, to be honest. I had a brilliant view of it, and Youri’s a wonderful technical player.
“He’s got brilliant technique with both feet and big credit to Marc Albrighton as well because the ball, I think it was on the transition.
“The manager said at half-time, on the transition, when we win the ball back, let’s try and make our first pass forward, because that’s when they’re out of shape.
“They’re so good when we have the ball in possession, they’re 5-4-1 and it’s hard to break down, like we found in the first half. If we can speed up when we win the ball back, that first pass going forward, we can create chances off that.
“The ball fell to me off the transition in midfield and I found Sharky (Marc Albrighton) straight away. Marc Albrighton’s known for those dangerous deliveries, right into that corridor of uncertainty, but he managed to pull one back for Youri. I don’t think the defence expected it, and it was a brilliant finish from Youri, yes.”
Just 26 minutes into the match, Maddison went down following a challenge from Fabian Schär, and while he initially looked to be in some pain, he was able to play on and make a major contribution to the success at St. James’ Park.
He added: “I’m not sure what it looked like on the video, to be honest, but I felt like a hyperextension in my leg, and I was a bit worried, to be honest, for a second, about my knee because you can never be too careful with knee injuries – especially when they’re non-contact and you’re not sure what’s going on.
“It seemed to settle down quite quickly, which I was very pleased about, because I was worried at the start, but listen, we’ve got some good physios and I’m sure they’ll have a look at it after this.”