James Maddison believes that Tottenham surprised Manchester City before succumbing to a 2-0 defeat in the Premier League on Tuesday evening.
Spurs were the better side for long periods of the match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, forcing six saves from the two City goalkeepers who played at different points in the game, Ederson and Stefan Ortega. However, two slips at the back presented Erling Haaland with two second half goals, the second coming from the penalty spot after Jeremy Doku was brought down in the Spurs box by Pedro Porro.
Ange Postecoglou set up Tottenham in a different formation to normal with Pape Matar Sarr playing as a false nine and mostly operating in midfield to overload the visitors in the centre of the park and Pep Guardiola’s men struggled to contain their hosts at times during the encounter, only for poor finishing or good goalkeeping to keep them out.
“Pape, Rodrigo [Bentancur], we obviously played without a striker, which I think surprised them a little bit, they didn’t really know how to press the pockets, because it’s very rare the two centre-backs don’t have anyone to mark, but, ultimately, we lost the game so it’s kind of irrelevant. Just disappointing because it felt like a real chance to win a game against a top side,” Maddison said in his club interview after the game.
“Disappointing. It’s always disappointing to lose at home. City are obviously a top team but it just felt like we had control of the game and a foothold in the game which, against City, isn’t always the case. They are a great team with so much quality, but it just felt like there was a chance there today to win the game, especially in the first half. It felt like we had a bit of control, and they couldn’t really deal with our system.
“Ultimately though, you can’t keep them out for 90 minutes. It’s impossible. You know they are going to have moments and the quality of their attacking players, they took their big moments and that won the game for them.”
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The England also had praise for Ortega, saying: “We still had some big moments, even when we were down in the game. Sonny’s one is probably the highlight of our chances but it was a fantastic save from the keeper to be fair. He’s come on as a sub and produced a couple of good saves. There was one from Deki which he got on top of and it looked like it could have squeezed in.
“Credit to the goalkeeper because it’s not easy to come off the bench and produce big saves like that when you’re cold.”
In the past two matches, including the victory against Burnley on Saturday, Maddison has looked more like his old self after struggling to find his form following his return from two-and-a-half months out with an ankle injury.
“I feel good. Last couple of games I feel good. I think it will do me the world of good that I played almost 90 minutes in both the last two games. I always want to improve, numbers, goals and assists and everything,” he said.
“I had a long injury so I missed a lot of games but I feel good. I feel fit. Off the back of today it’s more disappointing for the team rather than anything. I felt I did alright. There were spaces and pockets out there and I felt we were getting success with the system and we could have actually won the game, which is frustrating.”
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