Over to you, James Maddison.
The cheeky war of words between the Tottenham Hotspur star and Manchester United great Roy Keane has taken a fresh turn as the latter mocked Maddison’s trademark celebration in the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast.
Gary Neville asked Keane for his thoughts on Maddison’s celebration against the Red Devils on February 16, as the Spurs ace shushed towards the camera after scoring the only goal of the match.
Maddison’s gesture was seen as a swipe in Keane’s direction after the United great questioned whether the seven-time England international was capable of stepping up when his team needed it.
“Good on him,” Keane said.
“Yeah, absolutely no problem. I still go to what I said. I don’t think he does enough of that.
“But when he scored, I was at home with my cup of tea, and I went, ‘Good on you.’
“No problem. If people have a go at you, you answer them back.”
But it was Keane’s next comment that left the entire panel in stitches.
“I was hoping he was going to do the same the other day, but he was a substitute against Ipswich,” Keane said.
Maddison began Tottenham’s 4-1 win over the Tractor Boys on February 22 on the bench but managed to provide an assist for Djed Spence just 13 minutes after he came on.
Neville added: “James, he’s now monitoring your every move.”
The OverlapKeane’s mocking of Maddison’s celebration had the likes of Neville and Carragher in stitches[/caption]
Keane then stared down one of the cameras and mimicked Maddison’s trademark darts celebration, prompting more laughter from the rest of the group.
Arsenal great Ian Wright came to Maddison’s defence and said: “Just do your stuff James, because you can’t f****** win.”
Unfortunately for Maddison, he will have to wait until next Thursday to fire back at Keane having failed to impress in Spurs’ 1-0 loss to Manchester City on Wednesday.
Maddison was brought back into the starting line-up by Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou but finished with only a yellow card to his name after he produced a rugby-style tackle to stop Savinho on a counter-attack.
Erling Haaland‘s first half strike was all that separated the two sides as he took his league tally to 20.
The result leaves City in fourth on 47 points, one off of third-placed Nottingham Forest.
As for Spurs, the defeat kept them 13th on 33 points.
Postecoglou’s side is next in action on March 6 as they travel to AZ Alkmaar for the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 clash.