Kulusevski is showing shades of Gazza and Chris Waddle, writes MATT BARLOW

The headlines were about Manchester City hitting a wall, the goalscoring hero was James Maddison on his birthday and Dejan Kulusevski was the best player on the pitch, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has kept a close eye on Tottenham.

Kulusevski has been a revelation, whether playing on the right wing, where he did the damage for City, or deeper and more central in midfield, where Ange Postecoglou has often deployed him in his second season.

He is strong and seemingly tireless with the courage to get the ball in tight spaces, with neat feet that belie his towering frame and a magical left foot.

The data geeks were very excited by Saturday night's figures, which showed him at the top of the Premier League charts in terms of chances created and possession won in the attacking third.

Although pure data ignores his aesthetic contribution that was clearly visible in Tottenham's third tackle, when he evaded three tackles in midfield, hit a one-two on Heung-min Son, darted forward with the ball and almost served up a chance for Dominic Solanke, who chased and retrieved. the pass and rolled in Pedro Porro to score.

There was a touch of vintage Gazza in the way he bounced through those challenges and emerged with the ball, just as there are often flickers of Chris Waddle when he cuts the ball in and teases crosses from the right, as he did on the first from Maddison.

“Kulusevski, what a player,” as Pep Guardiola put it in one of those informal post-match comments that suddenly makes you wonder what City are up to, like the time he praised Matheus Nunes as one of the best players in the game world and a few years later paid £52 million to sign him from Wolves.

For the record, Kulusevski still has three and a half years left on his contract, but if Spurs have any sense, they will be busy making plans to sign the Sweden international, who joined on loan from Juventus in January 2022. to commit.

The early brilliance under Antonio Conte was hampered by muscle injuries and he did not have the same impact in Postecoglou's first season as he does now.

“I believe you become more robust the further you go,” Postecoglou said pre-City, discussing the fitness and physical durability of the players now entering their second season under him.

“We've seen some players do really well, get better performances and better physical performances from a lot of players in this second year with us and that's being built in as we go, but there is some turnover.

“The nature of the way we train and play is always going to be on the cutting edge, so it's kind of by design.”

Spurs suffered numerous muscle injuries last season and launched an overhaul of their medical department in the summer, with Geoff Scott, head of medicine and sports science, leaving after 20 years.

Not everything went perfectly according to plan. Key defender Micky van de Ven is one of three out with hamstring injuries, and they remain as unpredictable as ever. If two results sum up the results, it would be a four-point win at the Etihad after a home loss to Ipswich.

Yet Kulusevski's development is beyond doubt. At 24, he is blossoming and clearly learning from Postecoglou.

When Swedish manager Jon Dahl Tomasson named him captain this year and encouraged him to give a speech to the group, Kulusevski decided the best thing he could do was to look through his Spurs boss's oratorial back catalogue.

Last week he was caught addressing the Swedish team by saying: 'I'm hungry, let's eat'.

Although he did not attribute it to Postecoglou. He delivered it in English and not Swedish, so it could have been designed for the cameras and an online audience.

Regardless, fans were quick to adopt the slogan as he followed it up with two goals and an assist in a 6-0 win against Azerbaijan.

Kulusevski is on the loose behind Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres for the Swedes, a trio that promises better times ahead for a country that has failed to qualify for three of the last four World Cup tournaments.

For Spurs, his versatility allows Postecoglou to subtly alter the team's shape and balance, and the plan worked brilliantly for City.

He wanted to start Maddison because he was new and had not been on international duty, but Maddison and Kulusevski together in midfield have not always worked well. They lack a bit of defensive strength and Maddison may end up playing too deep.

Pape Matar Sarr's ball-winning biting and defending offers better balance against opponents who will have a lot of ball possession, so Kulusevski was moved back to the right wing and Maddison was back between the goals in a more advanced role.

It meant no place for top scorer Brennan Johnson, who scored fourth, but the one man who cannot be left out in current form is Kulusevski.