Postecoglou hails “outstanding” Maddison after Tottenham crush champions City

Ange Postecoglou was full of praise for James Maddison after he bagged a brace to 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 in all competitions.

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

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

“It's against City and Madders was fantastic. He's had a lean period but I never doubted his ability. I thought the type of game we expected would suit him.

“I thought we would need his ability to keep the ball in tight midfield areas. I take it personally when players don't reach their level, it's up to me to get him back there.”

The victory moved Tottenham up to sixth place and is just four points behind Pep Guardiola's team, who are in second place.

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

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“It's significant, if you understand the context of who we were playing against,” Postecolgou said of the score.

“I'm proud of the boys, the football we played, the resilience and discipline we showed. When you play against City they test every aspect of your game and we dealt with that well.”

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

“It was an important game for us, the way the boys responded [to defeat to Ipswich]. It's easy when you're under pressure to splinter, but I never felt like it would happen this week,” the Australian said.

“The disappointing thing about the last few games is that we are not the kind of team we want to be. But I have no doubt that we are on the right track.”

Guardiola's 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 turn their attention to Tuesday's Champions League match against Feyenoord.

Tottenham will play Roma in the Europa League on Thursday.