Sky Sports suffered an awkward gaffe during Tottenham star James Maddison’s post-match interview with the midfielder on Monday night. Technical difficulties threatened to derail the England international’s media duties following his side’s 2-0 win over Fulham. The playmaker complained of an issue with the sound coming through his headset as he chatted to Dave Jones, Jamie Carragher and Gary O’Neil.
Whilst answering a question, Maddison turned to a member of the Sky Sports team next to him in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tunnel and said: “I can actually hear Marco Silva’s interview in my ear now.” The ex-Leicester City midfielder then paused and pointed to his headphones, much to the amusement of a laughing Carragher.
The pundit joked: “What’s he saying?” which prompted the witty reply from Maddison: “He’s saying Maddison’s goal was excellent, I think.” Carragher, Jones and Wolves boss O’Neil laughed at the remark before Maddison continued: “You’re louder (on the headphones), Dave, but I can just hear it in the background.”
Jones then replied: “We’ll try and sort that out as we carry on, James, we’ll try and remedy that.” The technical hiccup was then resolved promptly by Sky Sports, with Maddison thanking “whoever did that” before continuing to analyse his impressive display in the win over Fulham.
The former Leicester star shone on Monday night, scoring Spurs’ second as the Londoners reclaimed their spot at the top of the Premier League and extended their unbeaten start to the campaign to nine matches. Maddison’s goal came shortly after the half-time interval. He slotted the ball past Bernd Leno after a neat pass through from Son Heung-min who scored the opener.
The No 10’s influence since joining Tottenham cannot be understated and he has asserted himself as one of the most influential players in the league since making the £40million switch. He has three goals and five assists in nine league outings so far this term.
Explaining how he forced the mistake by Calvin Bassey which led to his goal, Maddison said: “I make that decision to press higher and press Bassey on his right foot because he’s a left-footed boy. I know him well from my time at Leicester – we were there when he was a young boy and he’s a very good player.
“But [he’s] right-footed so I was trying to keep him on his right foot and thankfully it caused a mistake and we were able to capitalise. I was trying to stay onside but I knew Bassey was still a bit behind so I didn’t need to be behind (Tim) Ream so I knew I had a couple more yards and then it was just about staying cool and passing it in from close range.
“I was thinking about the type of finish to go with – I didn’t want to get tackled from the inside because that can happen.” Maddison will be hoping to continue his good form when Spurs take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Friday night.
