Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has implored one of his out-of-form troops to "fight" his way out of his Lilywhites rut.
Hailed as one of the signings of the summer during the first half of the season, James Maddison hit the ground running in North London following his £39.5m arrival from relegated Leicester City.
The England international came up with three goals and five assists from his first nine Premier League matches in a Tottenham shirt, as the Lilywhites took 26 points from the first 30 on offer in the top flight.
Such a tally saw Postecoglou set a new record for a manager in his first season in charge of a Premier League club, but after spending two months on the sidelines with an ankle injury, Maddison has failed to recapture his previous form.
The 27-year-old has only managed one goal and two assists in his last 12 top-flight outings, and he has failed to directly contribute to a goal in six since scoring against Aston Villa in the middle of March.
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Postecoglou laments "disruptions" to Maddison season
After another uninspiring display in the North London derby defeat to Arsenal, Maddison was taken off just after the hour, marking the ninth Premier League game in a row where he has failed to last the full 90.
The playmaker's disappointing form could jeopardise his chances of representing England at Euro 2024, and Postecoglou was asked about his decline in Wednesday's pre-Chelsea press conference.
"Yeah, look it's a challenge. I think just about every player in the squad I've had that question about and I've been pretty consistent in my answers that we've had a very disruptive season," football.london quotes Postecoglou as saying.
"He's another one that's had disruptions. First 10 games, he played every game and he was going really well. Then he picked up an injury, missed a lot of football and he's come back but we've had challenges as a team where we haven't had any real fluency in terms of cohesion, games and starting line-ups.
"He's had to battle through that like a lot of them. That's part of the challenge. For us, the fact that things have not gone smoothly this year means you feel a bit of pain but in the long term you create a stronger and more resilient group and Madders is one of those guys. He's just got to fight his way out of it."
Amid Maddison's individual struggles, Tottenham's set-piece frailties reared their ugly heads against Arsenal, who scored two of their three first-half derby goals from corners last weekend.
Postecoglou dismisses concerns over set-pieces
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Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has traditionally struggled to assert his dominance from dead-ball situations, but Postecoglou reiterated his belief that set-pieces are not a significant weakness for his side.
"I think I've answered this question and I don't think it satisfies people, but no I don't see it as an issue. It's something that we work on along with everything in our game," the Tottenham boss added.
"There are far more important things that we need to concentrate on at the moment in terms of the team we're building. I think people want to believe, and it can be, that football is very prescriptive.
"You've got an illness, here's the tablet and you feel better. I've never believed that. I've always been about trying to create an environment and a style of football that can win things. I've never worked in a prescriptive manner and I certainly won't be doing it now."
The Australian also revealed a significant double injury blow for his side, as two men who sustained issues in the 3-2 loss to Arsenal have now been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Tottenham head to Stamford Bridge for Thursday's clash with Chelsea sitting fifth in the Premier League table, seven points below Aston Villa with two games in hand on their Champions League rivals.
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