James Maddison has now sat through two Tottenham matches in a row without getting off the bench, and after the 1-0 defeat at Leeds United the question is no longer only about his fitness. If Roberto De Zerbi was never going to use him, why was he in the matchday squad at all?
Spurs went to Leeds on a run of three straight league wins and came home with nothing after Noah Okafor scored with his third touch 11 minutes from time. They were chasing an equaliser for the last ten minutes, and their most experienced playmaker never got the call.
We don’t think this is about blaming James Maddison. He isn’t choosing to sit there. But a place on the bench should mean something, and right now it isn’t clear what his means.
Why did Maddison stay on the bench at Elland Road?
De Zerbi was asked about it straight after the game, and his answer was about training time. In his reaction after the Leeds defeat, he said: “Maddison started to work with the group on Thursday. Yes, Thursday, but no total training. Today and yesterday he worked just one day, one day and a half. It could be a solution, yes, but at that moment I thought Kudus was too tired. And in that position, Luca, in one-to-one, the speed is better than James. But in the future, James, when James is fit, we already know he plays, no?”
So when Mohammed Kudus came off on 83 minutes, it was 18-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett who went on. Earlier, the triple change on 65 minutes had brought on Rodrigo Bentancur, Dejan Kulusevski and Conor Gallagher for Mateus Fernandes, Omar Marmoush and Pedro Porro.
Two games, not a single minute
Leeds wasn’t a one-off. A week earlier, Maddison sat through the whole of the 2-0 win over ten-man Crystal Palace too. De Zerbi had said “James is available” the day before, and on the night he used all five of his changes, bringing on Porro, Gallagher, Destiny Udogie, Kulusevski and Williams-Barnett. Maddison was one of four substitutes who stayed put.
Asked about it before kick-off that night, De Zerbi said: “Not just for the physical condition. To be clear James is very important for us when he feels good, when he plays.”
Put those two evenings side by side and you get a strange picture. Against Palace, Spurs were winning against ten men who sat deep, the kind of game a No.10 should enjoy. Against Leeds, they were losing and needed someone to unlock a packed defence. Two completely different situations, and the same answer both times.
What is a bench place actually for?
This is where we think De Zerbi has a case to answer. A manager names his squad knowing roughly what could happen: protecting a lead, chasing a game, losing a player early. Every substitute should be there for at least one of those scenarios.
If Maddison wasn’t fit enough to give Spurs even five or ten minutes when they needed a goal, it’s fair to ask whether he should have been in the 20 at all. Another body, perhaps a fitter attacker or simply an extra defensive option, would at least have been usable.
The case for De Zerbi
There is a sensible version of this decision. A day and a half of training is not much, and Maddison has been here before. The latest scare came at Stamford Bridge, where he sat down on the turf and it turned out to be a groin problem. Throwing him into a frantic finish at Elland Road and losing him again for weeks would have been a far bigger story.
There’s also the Williams-Barnett point. De Zerbi rates the teenager’s speed one-on-one, and he felt Kudus had nothing left. That isn’t a crazy idea, even if it didn’t work.
The case against
Spurs had 61% of the ball at Leeds and 420 passes to 246, yet Leeds had 16 shots to their seven. The problem wasn’t getting the ball. It was doing something with it in the final third, which is exactly what Maddison is in the team for. He’s an FA Cup winner and a Europa League winner who opened the scoring with a stunning curler against Coventry City last month. In a game crying out for a pass or a set piece, leaving that on the bench is hard to justify.
James Maddison’s minutes tell the bigger story
The bench decisions make more sense, and look more worrying, once you see how little Maddison has played. As we set out after Gus Poyet raised his concern about the 29-year-old, he has lasted a full 90 minutes only three times since the start of the 2024-25 season.
| Period | James Maddison’s minutes |
|---|---|
| 2024-25 | Three full 90s, the last in January 2025 |
| 2025-26 | 34 minutes across three Premier League substitute appearances, after a serious ACL injury |
| 2026-27, before Palace | 210 minutes across seven games, with a best of 69 minutes against Coventry City |
| Palace and Leeds | Unused substitute in both |
That is the real issue. Maddison is so important to how this side could play, but he hasn’t been reliable for a long time, and De Zerbi plainly doesn’t trust his body yet. You can understand that and still think the bench is the wrong place to manage it.
What happens against Ipswich?
The international break gives Maddison two clear weeks at Hotspur Way before Ipswich Town come to N17 on Saturday 21 November. De Zerbi will be in the stands for that one after his third booking of the season at Elland Road, but he still picks the team.
We made the wider case for a bolder selection in our look at how Tottenham set up at Leeds. For Maddison, it’s simpler. After two full weeks of training, there is no day-and-a-half excuse left. Either he is fit enough to play a part, or Spurs should be honest that he isn’t ready and leave the bench spot to someone who is.
Verdict: a 20-minute Maddison beats a Maddison who never comes on
For me, De Zerbi didn’t get it badly wrong at Leeds, but he got the squad wrong before a ball was kicked. If the plan was never to use Maddison, he shouldn’t have been there. If the plan was to use him in an emergency, then 1-0 down at Elland Road with ten minutes left was that emergency.
The best version of Maddison right now may not be a starter at all. A fresh, sharp 20 minutes from him against tired legs could win Spurs points this winter. But that only works if he actually gets on the pitch. Ipswich is the moment to find out which Maddison Tottenham really have.
