Postecoglou hails “outstanding” Maddison after Tottenham crush champions City

Ange Postecoglou heaped praise on James Maddison after he bagged a brace to help beat Manchester City 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium.

Maddison scored twice on his 28th birthday to give Spurs a 2-0 lead at half-time before Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson scored to hand the Premier League champions their fifth straight defeat across all competitions.

The England international, who joined Tottenham from Leicester City last year, has now scored five goals and created three assists in the Premier League this season.

“[Maddison] was outstanding,” Tottenham boss Postecoglou told Sky Sports after the win.

“You have to be against City, and Madders was great. He’s gone through a lean spell but I never doubted his ability. I thought the kind of game we were expecting would suit him.

“I thought we’d need his ability to keep the ball in tight midfield areas. I take it personally on myself if players aren’t reaching their level, that’s on me to get him back up there.”

With the win, Tottenham moved into sixth place and are only four points behind Pep Guardiola’s side, who are in second place.

It was just the third time a team won away against the reigning Premier League champions by four goals or more.

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“It’s significant, when you understand the context of who we were playing,” Postecolgou talked about the scoreline.

“I’m proud of the lads, the football we played, the resilience and discipline we showed. When you play City, they test every aspect of your game and we handled that well.

Spurs had initiated City’s losing run with a 2-1 win against Guardiola’s side in the EFL Cup last 16, but Postecolgou’s side have also had their fair share of struggles, losing to Ipswich Town 2-1 at home before the international break.

“It was an important game for us, the way the boys reacted [to defeat to Ipswich]. It’s easy when you’re under pressure to splinter off, but I never got the sense that would happen this week,” the Australian said.

“The disappointing thing over the last few games is we’ve fallen well short of the kind of team we want to be. But I’ve no doubt we are on the right track.”

Guardiola’s joint-biggest defeat of his managerial career also ended City’s longest-ever unbeaten run at home in all competitions (52 games) and the defending champions will now switch their attention to the Champions League tie against Feyenoord on Tuesday.

Tottenham, meanwhile, face Roma in the Europa League on Thursday.