James Maddison has stressed the importance of creating a positive environment for Tottenham's youngsters in wake of Sunday's 5-1 humbling at Liverpool. Spurs did take the lead early on at Anfield through Dominic Solanke but they were well beaten on the day as the Reds secured the Premier League title in style.
Tottenham's defeat was their 19th of the Premier League campaign and it leaves them one point above West Ham in 17th with four games remaining. Now preparing for their biggest game of the season as they host Bodo/Glimt in a Europa League semi-final on Thursday night, Maddison is well aware of the role he has in the squad given he is vice-captain.
Due to Ange Postecoglou having a very young squad at his disposal, Maddison has opened up on the need to inject some positivity and not dwell on what was a very "embarrassing" result at Liverpool
"It's a balancing act and it's part of my role as a senior player. You want to feel the hurt and the embarrassment of how Sunday went. Because losing any game 5-1 is a little bit embarrassing and Liverpool obviously won the Premier League on the day, so it was a very negative day for us as a club," said the attacking midfielder in his pre-match press conference.
"But my job as a senior player is to not accept the fact that we were poor and we can't go forward like that, because the league is important - it gives you the momentum to take into Europe. But also just trying to put it to one side and I said that post-match. Especially because we have a lot of young players you need positivity.
"You need them to be feeling good and ready to go into Thursday. If we're dwelling on Sunday for too long, it's a quick turnaround, it's only a few days' preparation. So yeah, trying to get them feeling positive again and get a nice feel about the group.
"So like I said it's a balancing act. You want to feel the hurt of Sunday but it's a quick turnaround so it's my job as a senior player to get the positivity back into us as a group so we're ready for Thursday and can go in confident."
When he was asked how he feels after a bad result like the one at Liverpool, he added: "I don’t feel personally responsible because it is collective. It is everyone. No-one in the whole club - from top to bottom - can be satisfied internally, to be satisfied with where we are.
"It definitely hurts. The hurt, it is a tough one. Like I said, I had to do an interview at Liverpool on Sunday and we have lost 5-1. It is a little bit embarrassing, I am a bit embarrassed myself and you have to go and talk.
"And I know no-one actually wants to hear what I have got to say because they want to see the reaction. And get the reaction. And that is the chance we have on Thursday night which is the beauty of the quick turnaround because we can go and put it right on Thursday if we get a good result.
"And then in seven days time we have got another massive game and if we get through that, we are in a European final so there are positives there. But we have got to go and do it and we have got to show them we are just as hungry as they are to win something."