James Maddison has told Thomas Tuchel he is hungry to make a big impact for England.
New boss Tuchel is preparing to name his maiden squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia at Wembley.
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And after it was revealed last month that the former Chelsea chief had set up a hotline to stay in regular contact with up to 50 potential call ups, Spurs star Maddison has confirmed they have already spoken on the phone.
The attacking midfielder feels he is back in top shape after suffering from both a calf injury and illness since December. And confident Maddison, who has won only seven caps, believes few of his rivals for a Three Lions place can match his output in the final third.
“He has touched base,” Maddison said. “I think he was reaching out to a lot of players who would be in the selection, probably quite a big pool of players that the FA have identified.
“I’m hungry to be part of that. I feel like I’m in good form, my numbers are pretty good, there’s not too many midfielders who can out-score and out-assist me.
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“Especially now when I’m feeling good as well, feeling sharp. I know I can affect most games. It’s just about continuing to do that. Like I always say, if I play at that level for Tottenham, then the rest will take care of itself because I have a really strong self-belief.”
Meanwhile Dara O’Shea is backing “dying breed” Liam Delap to drag Ipswich out of trouble. The Tractor Boys dropped five points behind safety after Saturday’s defeat to Tottenham and Wolves ‘ surprise win at Bournemouth.
But with old-school centre-forward Delap still causing problems, O’Shea insists that belief remains high for a team that had been written off before a ball was kicked.
Liam Delap remains Ipswich’s main man.
Liam Delap remains Ipswich’s main man. (
Image:
Julian Finney)
“Liam’s been a handful for every defender he has come up against this season,” he said. “We know how good he is, that we need to give him the ball and get him into those positions because he scores goals and has done so well this season.
“There’s massive belief in us as a group that he’s going to score goals. He causes problems, teams are probably putting two players on him now which frees up other players too, which is great.
“I know Liam, what’s he like, and he’s not going to be happy with what he’s got now. He wants more and he’s going to have a great end to the season for us.”
Ipswich, who face Manchester United away on Wednesday, felt Spurs’ winning margin was not a fair reflection of their performance.
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And O’Shea knows their defending for Brennan Johnson’s opening was below par. But the Ireland centre-back added: “The big thing is everyone wrote us off at the start of the season. We’ll keep going. We’ve got a lot of belief in the group that gives us a ‘We’ll show you’ type thing.
“But it’s not about showing them, it’s about showing ourselves. It’s not easy, you get nothing cheap in this league, but we’ll just keep pushing and believe.”
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