Ange Postecoglou believes there’s even more to come from James Maddison following his starring role in Tottenham Hotspur’s demolition of Manchester City.
Spurs ruthlessly put the reigning champions to the sword in a 4-0 thrashing at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Maddison played a starring role in what is undoubtedly Postecoglou’s greatest result as Spurs boss so far.
The former Leicester man scored two goals inside the first 20 minutes to give Spurs a commanding lead.
But it wasn’t just his goals; Maddison was a constant thorn in City’s side, registering 100% dribble success and winning nine of his 13 ground duels, while also stifling Pep Guardiola’s men with two tackles, two clearances, one interception and five recoveries.
Ange: ‘More’ to come from James Maddison
Maddison’s masterclass comes off the back of a lean spell in which he started just one of Tottenham’s last four matches while registering one goal in his previous five appearances.
Postecoglou revealed the hard work he’s done with Maddison during the international break and promised even more to come from his playmaker.
“I mean lean spell, I thought he was really good for us earlier in the season and then yeah, he had a couple of sort of flat games but I think the whole team has,” Postecoglou told reporters (via Football.London). “I also believe there’s more in Madders and, and I think that’s on me. I always say, that’s my role as a manager.
“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 or his kind of levels 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, yeah, credit to him. Like I said, 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.”
