Ange Postecoglou makes exciting James Maddison prediction after Tottenham thrash Man City | OneFootball

Spurs star celebrates 28th birthday with brace in stunning 4-0 victory

Ange Postecoglou says there is more to come from James Maddison after the midfielder's brace inspired Tottenham to a 4-0 win over Manchester City.

Pedro Porro and substitute Brennan Johnson scored after the break as City suffered a fifth consecutive defeat, bringing to an end their run of 52 games unbeaten at the Etihad Stadium.

Maddison played just 14 minutes of Spurs' previous two League games having slipped behind Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Matar Sarr in Postecoglou's pecking order but, with Kulusevski back on the right wing, the England playmaker was decisive.

"He was really good for us earlier in the season and then he had a couple of sort of flat games but I think the whole team has," Postecoglou said of his vice-captain.

"I also believe there's more in Madders and, and I think that's on me. That's my role as a manager.

James Maddison bagged a brace as Tottenham thrashed Man City

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"If I'm not getting a maximum amount out of the players, the team against Ipswich, or individuals, then it's about sort of some self reflection of 'well, ok, can I do something different with them?'

"But the thing about Madders was he obviously didn't go away on international duty. He had two weeks with us and the coaches worked really hard with him and he was working really hard at training and I could just see and said he was ready for a big game.

"He hasn't sort of lowered his ambitions of the kind of player he wants to be and it's about us giving him that platform and it wasn't just his goals today.

"I thought he was really important for us in the build-up because he was always looking for it in tight areas and, and defensively, he worked really hard. So credit to him.

"I still think he's had a decent season, but it's like us as a team, we want to be more than that, we want to be more than just a decent team."

Spurs came into the game on the back of a 2-1 home defeat to previously-winless Ipswich before the international break and sitting 11th in the table.

They were without first-choice centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, with Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies filling in, and had five teenagers on the bench. Postecoglou acknowledged that he did not expect such a resounding win but praised the levels of his depleted side.

"You don't come to a place like this thinking that it's going to be probably as convincing as it was for us in terms of just the way we handled it," he said.

"City test you in every football way possible. You've got to do a bit of everything. You've got to defend, you've got to work hard, be disciplined and you've got to play football.

"I thought in all four areas we really got to a really strong level today where the players were really determined, after a really disappointing game last time and we just got back to our core beliefs as a team.

"Credit to the lads. I thought they were just outstanding out there today.

"We knew that in the first 10 minutes they'd come out flying, especially with the four losses they've had were away from home. So being at home, there'd be an energy in the stadium.

"We were going to have to weather the storm, which I thought we did fairly well and then we just grew into the game and I'm just so pleased for the players, for the belief they have in trying to play the way we want to and then you get a reward like that. I think it just furthers hopefully our progression."

Tottenham’s makeshift backline impressed against Man City

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The Australian added: "I thought Ben and Radu were really focused, I thought Vic [Guglielmo Vicario] behind them was really positive as well with his positioning and the way they communicated. I thought Biss [Yves Bissouma] was important to that.

"I think the key for us was we had to do it as a collective today. I think when you play City, you can't rely on individuals to find solutions out there and collectively, I thought we defended really well, but credit to those two guys and not just defensively, but we had to play out from the back.

"It was the only way we were going to deliver balls to the areas we wanted to and both Ben and Radu didn't shy away from that. It wasn't always easy, but they consistently were looking for the ball and looking for us to play out from the back. So credit to those guys."