James Maddison has revealed that he felt “hurt” and “ashamed” through the crushing defeat of Tottenham in Liverpool on Sunday – and the disastrous Premier League season. And the midfielder of England now wants to 'reward' the loyalty of the Spurs fans by winning the Europa League. “We're in this together,” he claimed.
The Tottenham season hit another layer in Anfield with a 5-1 defeat – their 19th in the Premier League – who saw Liverpool seal the title. Spurs sit in the 16th and are confronted with a fight not to end 17th above the bottom three. The North London club still has the chance to win a European trophy and return to the Champions League.
But Maddison said: “Nobody in the entire club – from top to bottom – can be satisfied internally, to be satisfied with where we are. It certainly hurts. I had to do an interview in Liverpool on Sunday and we had lost 5-1.
“It's a bit embarrassing, I'm ashamed of myself and you have to talk. And I know that nobody really wants to hear what I have to say because they want to see the reaction. And get the reaction.
“And that is the chance we have on Thursday evening, what the beauty of the fast turnaround is, because we can do it on Thursday if we get a good result.
“We absolutely want to reward them for the support they give us by creating something special because the competition has not been good enough, for sure. But it also hurts us. They are American players there and we take responsibility for that.
“But it hurts me a lot that we have a bad season. But that is why we are so motivated for this competition because the season can still be so special. People talk all the time that Tottenham has been without silverware for many years, but we are in the last four and we have a great opportunity in a competition that we have had quite solid this year.
“We want to reward them because we feel the support. In the final games and you have lost again, you cross and you want to thank them for the support and I know they don't want to hear it from us. Even this press conference and the interview on Sunday they are not really so disturbed because words are just words. But we try to make it right.
“That is the most important thing that hunger is there. It does not always work how you want it, but this is a unique situation in which we are in the last four in Europe when we can reward them for their support because they travel everywhere. We are very grateful for that, even in the competition position in which we have nothing to play, they still have liverpool and that do that.
“They support us. It also hurts us. We are not satisfied either. We are here together. We have to show them that we are just as hungry as they win something.”