James Maddison has said that Tottenham Hotspur did something that surprised Manchester City in the recent match between the two sides.
City beat the North London club 2-0 in their penultimate Premier League game of the season on Tuesday night thanks to a brace from Erling Haaland.
This victory put the Citizens two points ahead of Arsenal at the top of the league table and confirmed Aston Villa’s Champions League place at the expense of Spurs.
After the match, one figure in Ange Postecoglou’s side shared some insight into what the Lilywhites did to try and put City off once the game began.
Maddison reveals Spurs tactic to disrupt City
Speaking to the North London club’s official media outlet after the match, Maddison said this on the matter.
He said: “We obviously played without a striker which I think surprised them a little bit.
“They didn’t know how to press the pockets because it’s very rare the two centre-backs have no one to mark. But ultimately we lost the game, so it’s kind of irrelevant.”
Having then gone on to speak to Sky Sports (via BBC Sport), the Spurs midfielder had this to say about the game and what his side were up against.
He said: “We were in the game for large parts, took the game to City and played some really good football but ultimately it results in zero points.
“You know City are always going to probe and have moments, it is just whether you can stay strong and see those moments out. They have such quality though.
“We had big moments ourselves, in the first half we were really in the game. We gave them problems in the set-up and felt like we had an extra man in midfield.
“They took their chances in their moments and we didn’t, and we did have some. Fine margins at the top level.”
Spurs duo caused problems for City
Spurs started the game with four defenders, four midfielders and two wide players up top.
With the home side’s two main attackers being Son Heung-min and Brennan Johnson, the duo were tasked with causing trouble for City’s defence.
Both players completed the 90 minutes, which saw Johnson make three key passes and Son have two shots on target.
Despite that, the Blues were able to keep a clean sheet and take a big step towards potentially winning another Premier League title.
So while Spurs may have wanted to unsettle City with this formation, it wasn’t enough to derail their title charge.