Football.London

Tottenham star James Maddison has hailed England teammate Jude Bellingham after the Real Madrid sensation scored during their 3-0 win over Leganes on Sunday.

Bellingham, 21, who joined Real from Borussia Dortmund for £88million plus add-ons in June 2023, scored 23 goals and added 12 assists in 42 appearances during his debut season at the club. However, the former Birmingham midfielder hasn't been as prolific this term, directly contributing to just four goals in 14 appearances.

But Bellingham appeared to be back to his best in front of goal with a smart finish to wrap up three points for Real and move them back to within four points of La Liga leaders Barcelona. It came after Bellingham provided three assists for England against Republic of Ireland during the international break.

After the thumping win over Leganes, Bellingham took to Instagram to reflect on an important success for his Real side. In a caption, translated from Spanish to English, Bellingham said: "We continue." It came alongside six different images, with one which including his trademark celebration.

Maddison, fresh off the back of his Player of the Match performance for Spurs against Manchester City, jumped into the comments to heap praise on his England colleague. The 28-year-old said: "Normal service."

Vinicius Jr, Federico Valverde, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Vazquez and Thibaut Courtois were among the others to comment on Bellingham's post and cherish his 53rd senior club goal.

As for Maddison, it proved to be a weekend to remember. As well as celebrating his 28th birthday, the former Leicester midfielder scored a first-half brace to help Spurs to fine 4-0 win over City at the Etihad Stadium. Maddison was exceptional throughout and looked back to his best.

Speaking after helping Spurs to an excellent away day victory, Maddison said: "It's a special day. I've just said in a few interviews that these days don't come around very often, against the champions, arguably the best team in Europe, Pep Guardiola's side, so you have to enjoy them.

"Credit to the lads, I thought we were absolutely outstanding today. We dug deep when we had to, we were clinical, we created chances, we had to rely on blocks from defenders, goalie saves… it was everything you want from a Spurs performance. That’s what we want to showcase when we’re at our best level. It was all there.

"I'm really happy, and we've got to enjoy the moment. I said to the boys, 'it's not often you'll come to the champions and win 4-0', so enjoy it. People always talk about the next game, but sometimes you have to sit back and reflect a little and enjoy, then move on. I’m so happy and proud of the boys."

Ange Postecoglou's decision to restore James Maddison to his Tottenham team against Manchester City proved to be a masterstroke. The midfielder made it a 28th birthday to remember with two goals in Tottenham's incredible 4-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium.

A regular in the team at the beginning of the season and playing a key role in midfield, Maddison was dropped to the bench for the Aston Villa and Ipswich Town fixtures at the start of November with Pape Matar Sarr making himself an undroppable in the middle of the park. Not many expected Maddison to regain his place in the team in Manchester at the weekend as Postecoglou was expected to go with Yves Bissouma, Sarr and Dejan Kulusevski as his midfield trio.

However, the Australian sprung a bit of a surprise by reinstating Maddison and moving Kulusevski to the right-wing despite his standout showings in midfield this season. That unfortunately meant that Brennan Johnson, Tottenham's top goalscorer in 2024/25, took his place on the substitutes' bench to begin with.

Keen to make up for lost time after only playing 14 minutes in total in the Villa and Ipswich games, Maddison made his mark on the contest with 13 minutes on the clock as he converted Kulusevski's inch-perfect delivery in style. Seven minutes later and he had another goal to his name after combining with Son Heung-min to delicately lift the ball over Ederson to double Tottenham's lead. It was the perfect way to mark his return to the team.

The 28-year-old continued to have a major say on the game as he contributed defensively, won a number of fouls and linked up with Tottenham's attacking players as they ran riot at the Etihad Stadium. It came as no surprise to see Maddison walk away with the man of the match award in what was undoubtedly his best performance in a Tottenham shirt.

Postecoglou was full of praise for his player when speaking in his post-match press conference. The Australian also admitted that his player was "ready for a big game" after making his mark in training during the international break after once again missing out on the England squad.

"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," explained Postecoglou. "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."

So what was the reasoning behind bringing Maddison back into the team and moving Kulusevski to the right flank? Postecoglou explained all when speaking to SPURSPLAY.

“I thought with the way the game was going to go that Madders was going to be important for us," he said. "Deki always causes City problems out wide. They want to defend one-on-one and Deki is unbelievable in terms of his running capacity when he’s faced up against an opponent.

"I thought today was about the collective, not the individuals, we had 14, 15 warriors out there who played with real courage and conviction and it’s credit to them.”

Postecoglou will likely make a couple of changes here and there for Thursday's Europa League tie against Roma but his Spurs XI to take on Fulham on Sunday could near enough be the team that was named for the Man City fixture. Maddison has done more than enough to keep his place in the side and that may result in Kulusevski remaining on the right-wing.

Despite his goal that completed the scoring at the Etihad, Johnson could have to contend with a place on the substitutes' bench to begin with even though he is currently leading the way as Tottenham's top goalscorer this term. The only other option would be for Son to drop down out of the XI but that seems highly unlikely given he is Tottenham's captain and what he offers in the final third.

If indeed Johnson is to watch on from the sidelines to begin with against Fulham, Postecoglou has a gamechanger at his disposal as there have been a handful of occasions in the past when the Wales international has scored after coming off the bench. All head coaches want selection dilemmas, which is exactly what the Tottenham boss has right now after Maddison's stellar showing at the Etihad Stadium.

Dejan Kulusevski believes that he has "something that no other player has" after shining once again for Tottenham in their big win at Manchester City.

The Swede has been in phenomenal form for club and country this season with six goals and two assists in 18 appearances despite moving back into a deeper role within Ange Postecoglou's system. He also has two goals and two assists in his six international games in recent months, five of those as Sweden's captain.

Tottenham are the top scorers in the Premier League and many of their goals have involved Kulusevski at some point during the build-up. The 24-year-old has always revelled playing at the Etihad Stadium and his role, back on the right wing, in Spurs' 4-0 win against Pep Guardiola's men on Saturday means it's now six goal involvements in his four visits to City's home since arriving from Juventus in 2022.

Kulusevski admitted that Kevin De Bruyne is a player he often watches and studies and when asked whether he can become one of the best players in the Premier League like the silverware-laden Belgian, the Spurs man said: "I think I have something that no other player has. So you can’t compare me to any other player, so this is what I’m looking for."

When quizzed if that something was his seemingly never-ending energy reserve, the midfielder responded: "Yeah, I don't get tired and I can't let anybody outwork me. That’s the plan. That’s how I play and how I train.

"Clearly, you have to strive to be as good as possible, every day in every kind of way, on the pitch and outside of the pitch. Right now, I’m doing my best and I’m really not demanding anything for myself. You know when a mistake happens, it happens. So I’m maturing a lot and I’m enjoying my football a lot more."

With his new captaincy role with his country, it's clear that Kulusevski's influence at Tottenham is also growing and the player is trying to become more of a leader among his team-mates, especially the many younger ones who look up to him.

"Yeah, I’m improving. I’m getting more mature now as a forward also. That’s important for the club that I take my responsibility and I help the young players," he said. "They really trust me and I believe in them a lot, so I know we enjoy playing together."

The Tottenham man added that he does feel unstoppable right now in what has been a great campaign so far on a personal level, saying: "I feel like that. I feel very good, and I’m trying to keep this way. I’m very happy, I’m trying to improve. I’m never happy. I’m just grateful, but I feel really good. I started the season good, but there is over half of the season left and I hope I can do much better."

Saturday's big victory in Manchester brought two goals from James Maddison, the first set up by a beautiful, curling Kulusevski ball into his path, before Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson finished the job of dismantling the champions.

"I’d say it’s the best result ever in my career. It’s a big night for the whole club, for the coach, for the players," said Kulusevski. "I believed this [result could happen] because in the past years, we’ve come here and played really well. So this is the game I look forward to most in the year and once again, it happens, so glory to God."

The Swede made it very clear though that the hammering of City should not feel like a turning point because of what came before, particularly the dismal defeat against Ipswich at home before the international break.

"No, no because we have to be much more consistent. It’s not a turning point. We have to be better in other games. This game suits us perfectly, but we have a lot of improvement to make in the other games," he said. "Because City have a lot of the ball so sometimes we can rest when we defend. There’s also so much space up there, we play one against one and then it’s always dangerous because we have a lot of quality.

"It’s always great to play great teams because they always want to play football. When you play lower teams, sometimes it’s not. There’s not much football played because they are a lot of fouls a lot of injuries and it’s slow going."

On what lies ahead for the north London club this season, he added: "We have to see, but we have to climb the ladder too. We have to improve a lot, especially in the games where we play the lower-ranked teams, but it’s up to us all to take responsibility because we’re very good players, and now we just have to do it every day."

Guglielmo Vicario has sent an emphatic response to complaints about Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou. Spurs have come under fire significantly in recent weeks for their lack of consistency with a shock defeat to Ipswich coming prior to the November international break.

Upon returning from the two-week domestic pause, the Lilywhites travelled to Etihad Stadium for a Premier League clash against Manchester City where it looked as though suffering a third consecutive defeat, having also lost to Galatasaray, was likely. However, Postecoglou's side produced an excellent performance to beat the champions 4-0.

James Maddison, upon his return to the starting XI, scored twice in the first half with goals from Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson arriving in the second period. Despite being without Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur, Spurs were able to keep just their third clean sheet of the Premier League campaign.

Vicario played a key role in securing that with top saves made to deny Erling Haaland on more than one occasion. The Italy international also faced nine corners but at no point appeared under any threat despite the claims he struggles to command his box on set-pieces.

Based on that and the pressure increasing from some sections of the fanbase on Postecoglou, via social media, Vicario has seemingly sent a very clear message to those that doubted him and his teammates.

On Instagram, alongside some pictures from the victory, he said: "A lot of noise recently.. but this is why we do it. Great win away from home. #COYS @SpursOfficial [white heart emoji]." The win took Spurs up to sixth in the table and just three points away from the top four.

James Maddison has stated that Brennan Johnson's ability to get into position to convert at the back post on a regular basis is "a skill" and "not luck". The winger netted his eighth goal of the 2024/25 season on Saturday evening as he completed the scoring in Tottenham's resounding 4-0 win away at reigning Premier League champions Manchester City.

Timo Werner was the architect with a run beyond Kyle Walker down the left wing before Johnson finished off his cross following an excellent run from his own half. Since joining Tottenham in a big-money move from Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2023, the 23-year-old has scored a number of similar goals by getting into the positions Ange Postecoglou wants when the ball is on the other side of the pitch.

Maybe simple finishes for the Wales international, as was very much the case in late September when he scored from point-blank range in the 3-0 win over Manchester United, Johnson deserves so much credit for making the runs that get him into the right areas in the first place. Speaking to SPURSPLAY after the 4-0 drubbing of Manchester City, Maddison opened up on his best friend at the club and revealed that his tendency to score goals at the back post is not luck.

"Brennan's my best pal here, he's a great lad," said the 28-year-old. "He worked so hard for the team when he came on today. I was on at him a bit, he was on my side and, especially as we're getting a little bit tired towards the end and he's come on with fresh legs, I'm getting him to do the running that he needs to as we had to defend deep at times. He does it, he takes on info, he respects and listens.

"He's always there at the back stick and it's a skill. It's not luck that he gets so many tap-ins because he's relentless in his running and the awareness. When people score a lot of tap-ins, it's a skill I promise. People don't think that it is but you've got to be there to have the chances and he's always there.

"He scores that goal so many times at the back stick when he's in front of the defender, so credit to him and really happy."

Such a memorable day for the club after putting Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side to the sword, Maddison discussed the importance of savouring the victory rather than immediately moving on and looking ahead to Thursday's showdown against Roma in the Europa League.

"It’s a special day," he explained. "I’ve just said in a few interviews that these days don’t come around very often, against the champions, arguably the best team in Europe, Pep Guardiola’s side, so you have to enjoy them.

"Credit to the lads, I thought we were absolutely outstanding today. We dug deep when we had to, we were clinical, we created chances, we had to rely on blocks from defenders, goalie saves… it was everything you want from a Spurs performance. That’s what we want to showcase when we’re at our best level. It was all there.

"I’m really happy, and we’ve got to enjoy the moment. I said to the boys, ‘it’s not often you’ll come to the champions and win 4-0’, so enjoy it. People always talk about the next game, but sometimes you have to sit back and reflect a little and enjoy, then move on. I’m so happy and proud of the boys."

One of James Maddison's Instagram Stories on Sunday morning said it all. Reposting birthday messages and uploading content from Tottenham's 4-0 drubbing of Manchester City to his social media account, there was then a photo of what appeared to be AC Milan and Italy great Paolo Maldini.

It wasn't actually the Italian in the image, though. Instead, the defensive great's head had been replaced by that of Tottenham defender Ben Davies.

Going on the outstanding display he delivered in Saturday evening's win at the Etihad Stadium, quite a number of people may now be referring to him as 'The Welsh Maldini' on a permanent basis. Davies was a huge figure at the back for Tottenham as they managed to stop Erling Haaland & Co. from scoring in the Premier League showdown.

Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski may have dominated all the headlines following their showings at the Etihad, but players such as Guglielmo Vicario, Radu Dragusin and Davies gave them a solid platform to go and put City to the sword. Already without Micky van de Ven for the game, Spurs were delivered a blow on the injury front heading into the match in Manchester with Cristian Romero unavailable for the contest.

That meant Davies came into the backline to partner Dragusin. The duo have already struck up a strong understanding in their game time together in the Europa League and Carabao Cup this season, thus meaning Ange Postecoglou's side weren't going into the game with a makeshift defensive pairing with very little football between them.

As he has done this term when called upon, Davies produced an excellent performance at the back and he quite rightly came in for plenty of praise from Tottenham fans in the process. Very much a calm head in defence for Tottenham, the 31-year-old made six clearances and one block in his game time, completed 54 of his 65 passes and passed the ball into the final third four times.

The ex-Swansea City man also had a hand in the third goal of the night after making an interception that sent the team away for Pedro Porro's strike not long after the restart. It came as no surprise to see Maddison dub Davies as "Mr Reliable" on his Instagram account and Dejan Kulusevski hail him as "unbelievable", with Postecoglou also going on to praise the versatile defender in his post-match press conference.

"Yeah, I thought they were all great," said the 59-year-old. "You have to be against City because obviously they've got big Erling up there, but the way they deliver the ball, the areas they consistently probe, you've got to be focused the whole time and I thought Ben and Radu were really focused, I thought Vic behind them was really positive as well with his positioning and the way they communicated. I thought Biss 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."

Davies has served Tottenham so well in his 10 years at the club following his move from Swansea City. He may not be be the most fashionable player in Spurs' ranks but the fact he has been a regular under Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte tells you all you need to know about him.

Davies has always delivered consistent performances for the Lilywhites but maybe hasn't always received the flowers he has deserved. Instead, some fans have deemed him as someone who should have been moved on in previous transfer windows as part of a much-needed squad refresh in N17 to help get the club back on track.

Most importantly, though, his managers haven't viewed him like that and he still remains a key part of the playing squad to this day. Saturday evening's display against Manchester City highlighted exactly why the experienced defender still has a big part to play for the football club and why it may be wise to extend his contract beyond its current expiry date of this summer.

An underrated player and terrific professional who deserves a lot more recognition for his career to date, 'The Welsh Maldini' is a big asset for Postecoglou and Tottenham. That was evident as Tottenham made everyone sit up and take notice with that 4-0 rout at the Etihad Stadium.

Roy Keane confrontation, Tottenham shock and key moments from the Premier League this weekend  Football.London

Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou responded emphatically to defeat against Ipswich Town before the November international break with a stunning victory at Manchester City. James Maddison scored twice in seven minutes to put Spurs ahead with Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson on target in the second 45.

Scoring four without reply at Etihad Stadium is some achievement for the Lilywhites, made even better by the fact it was a completely deserved victory. Pep Guardiola's side are in a shocking rut of results, having now lost five consecutive games in all competitions, but that should take nothing away from Spurs.

While the hosts had more shots, Tottenham bettered their opponents for efforts on target with Guglielmo Vicario only forced into a few important saves. What would have pleased Postecoglou most though, was that his players did not abandon the system nor game plan.

Part of that involves Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro joining attacks with the latter bagging his second goal of the season. After City lost possession, the Spaniard sprinted up the pitch and was found perfectly by Dominic Solanke which allowed him to remain in stride and sweep home.

Porro may have felt as though he could've netted a brace like Maddison, had a flurry forward ended differently. When Son Heung-min picked up the ball in City's half, he attempted a pass in behind which would have released Solanke but after possession was lost, it was clear the better option was Porro on the far side.

Understandably, the 25-year-old was left unimpressed and proceeded make his anger clear by shouting in the direction of his teammate. And that reaction was proven to be justifiable with Porro smashing home Spurs' third goal of the game.

Though the move did not come off in the first half, Postecoglou will have been delighted that Porro continued making those runs and that his players are demanding the absolute best from each other. In order to fully take advantage of such a result, Tottenham must solve their big consistency issue.

Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham side displayed their quality with four outstanding goals in their 4-0 triumph at Manchester City on Saturday evening. James Maddison put Tottenham on their way to victory with a brilliant first-half double, before goals from Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson in the second half completed the demolition at the Etihad Stadium.

In regards to Tottenham's first of the night, Radu Dragusin and Dejan Kulusevski had a big part to play in Maddison's well-executed strike. Firstly seeing the Romanian centre-back pick out Kulusevski on the right flank with a precise long ball, the Swede then used his strength to get the better of Josko Gvardiol.

What Tottenham's No.21 did next was superb as he cut inside on to his left foot and put the ball on a plate for Maddison to convert from six yards. As impressive as the inswinging delivery was from Kulusevski, Maddison's determined run from the middle of the park to get beyond Ilkay Gundogan and then between Kyle Walker and John Stones in the area was just as good.

It was Tottenham at their very best and the goal in fact all came from a pre-match conversation between Maddison and Kulusevski. Speaking to SPURSPLAY after the game, the goalscorer revealed all.

"Two different goals in a way," he said on his double at the Etihad. "I actually said to Kulu before the game, because obviously he hasn't played on the wing as much lately, but being left-footed on the right wing with his ability when he cuts in I can make that run from that left half-space, that left pocket area from midfield.

"Because I'm running from deep it's hard for the backline to pick me up. I've done it a few times this season from passes from [Cristian] Romero and deeper when I make that run in from behind but I haven't actually scored. I have been getting chances from it so I knew one was going to come soon. It was a brilliant ball, I didn't even have to break stride, so credit to Kulu.

"The second one was good link-up with Sonny. We won it high up, I passed it to him and I thought it would be cleverer to run around him rather than underneath him, which we do quite a lot, just because I had seen Kyle Walker was just a little bit high.

"I found a tiny little bit of space in the box and managed to execute a nice little delicate one over Ederson. Really happy with the two finishes. I always judge myself on goals and assists as an attacking player so yeah happy."

Kulusevski also spoke to SPURSPLAY after the game and opened up on the talk he had with Maddison not long before the game.

"Maddison told me just before the game to look for me when cutting inside. Crazy but exactly that happened," he admitted. "The ball was perfect and the finish was good. But it's still hard when leading 1-0, but after 2-0 we really got on top and we defended really good.

"I think Ben Davies and Dragusin were unbelievable, with Pedro and Destiny so unbelievable protecting the crosses. This is the standard, this is how we have to play every game. If not, we're just stupid. We just have to keep this level because when we play like this it's a joy for the world."

Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold has sent a message to James Maddison following his superb display in Tottenham's thumping Premier League victory against Manchester City. Ange Postecoglou's side rocked up to Etihad Stadium as huge underdogs but demolished the reigning champions without reply.

Maddison grabbed a first-half brace but rather than dropping deeper in an attempt to hold onto their lead, the Lilywhites continued attacking after the interval and were rewarded. A fast counter started by Ben Davies ended with Pedro Porro sweeping home after excellent work in the build up by Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke.

Two substitutes then combined for a fourth with Timo Werner's cross tapped home at the back post by Brennan Johnson. Tottenham are very impressive in attack but to keep a clean sheet, considering the absence of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero off the back of losing to Ipswich, was some feat.

That disciplined defensive performance started in the frontline though, with Maddison the conductor of Spurs' relentless press which directly led to his second goal. The attacking midfielder has endured a tough start to the 2024/25 season with Kulusevski often preferred in the central areas.

However, Postecoglou opted to move the Swede out wide and bring Maddison into the starting XI with the Spurs boss swiftly rewarded for such a bold call. "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 said of Maddison after the game.

"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. But the thing about Madders was he obviously didn't go away on international duty. He had two weeks with us and he was working really hard at training and I could just see 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." Maddison's performance at Etihad Stadium could be what kickstarts his season with it also the best way to begin another year as it was his 28th birthday.

Plenty of his Spurs teammates will have sent messages with some of his England colleagues making their thoughts clear as well, which included Alexander-Arnold. On Instagram stories, he wrote: "Happy birthday brother [salute and football emoji] @Madders."

While not directly related to his two goals which could prove decisive in the Premier League title race, Alexander-Arnold would have certainly been pleased by that result. Though he is currently out injured, Liverpool took advantage of that slip-up to go eight points clear at the top after coming from behind to beat Southampton.