James Maddison says he and his teammates showed the ‘real Spurs’ in their 4-0 win over Man City. His comments show that the Tottenham players are finally understanding their roles and the standard they need to maintain.
When Tottenham click, they look like a supreme footballing side. Manchester City are struggling for form in the Premier League, however, playing them away from home and achieving such a resounding win, still requires team-wide perfection.
Even with Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies forming a makeshift centre-back pairing, starting a game together for the first time in the league, the Spurs players defended admirably as a team.
Working for each other in defence and attack showed that even with players missing, the squad are developing their understanding of how to play with each other and effectively create Postecoglou’s brand of football.
Speaking after the match on SkySports, James Maddison said (Main Event 23/11/24 at 20:15): “I know what he (Postecoglou) expects of his midfielders. He trusts me enough…I can take it upon myself to realise what the team needs.
“City sometimes press high and it can be difficult to get out. (We had)Two lads at centre-half who don’t always play together as well. I thought it would be better sometimes to help in the build-up.
“We obviously have tactical work in the week which the manager speaks about. So it’s just about varying it. Staying high when I needed to and dropping down to help with the build-up when I needed to because I know I can be effective doing that as well.”
When asked about Spurs’ consistency and who they are as a team, Maddison responded: “That’s the real Spurs today. That’s the one we train towards. That’s the one that we work towards. Today had a bit of everything. We pressed high. We defended deep. We relied on our keeper. We got blocks in. We scored on the counter. We built up and we were brave.
“I think that 90 minutes there is what we want Spurs to be and we have to strive towards making sure it’s there more consistently. The Premier League is tough. Year on year it gets tougher and tougher. That’s a good benchmark to kick and have a good period over Christmas now, I hope.”
After the loss against Ipswich, Ange Postecoglou said getting consistency from the players was his responsibility. The fact that Spurs travelled to Manchester and stayed committed to playing attacking football while up against the most dominant club team in England, highlighted their belief in the approach.
This young Spurs team needs to learn from their successes as well as their failures. Back-to-back wins against the holding Premier League Champions will hopefully send a message that when they approach games with this committed mindset, they are capable of beating anyone.
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