James Maddison reveals what Postecoglou said ahead of second half Aston Villa thrashing
Tottenham Hotspur went into the half time break against Aston Villa having failed to register a shot on goal.
The visitors had dominated proceedings in the opening twenty minutes at Villa Park with the majority of the period having been played in Villa’s half, however, they were unable to make it count.
Villa came back into proceedings more of the half went on but like their opponents, were not posing a threat on goal – instead trying to rely on long passes to Ollie Watkins, who decided to position himself up against Cristian Romero.
A huge result for Spurs in the race for Champions League qualification
James Maddison revealed that Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou told his players in the dressing room at half time to keep faith with the game plan after noticing that Unai Emery’s side were showing signs of fatigue in the latter stages.
Villa had been in action in their Europa League round of sixteen first leg against Ajax in Amsterdam on Thursday evening, while Spurs in comparison have had plenty of time to prepare for the match.
Postecoglou felt Aston Villa couldn’t keep up with Tottenham
Postecoglou’s opinion proved to be correct with Tottenham putting Villa to the sword in the second half with arguably the best forty-five minutes of football since the Australian took charge.
Goals from Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Heung-min Son and Timo Werner ensured all three points headed back to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in what could prove to be a vital 4-0 win over Aston Villa in the battle for a Champions League place.
Maddison told Sky Sports in his post match interview: “The gaffer’s team talk was just keep doing the same because the last five or 10 minutes they started to tire.
“It’s a common theme in our games, we score a lot of goals in the second half and late.
“They played a lot of balls in behind but I felt like we were in control and they were getting tired towards the end of the first half. The manager’s message was just to keep doing the same thing because they won’t be able to keep up.”
SpursWeb Opinion
Tottenham started brightly against a Villa side who adopted an unfamiliar line-up of a defensive back three, they tried to catch the Spurs defence out by playing long balls over the top but they were comfortably dealt with by the likes of Romero, van de Ven, Dragusin and Pedro Porro, who covered well on occasion.
Spurs now need to keep this momentum up and ensure they win the game in hand at Chelsea – how good would it be to get one over former boss Mauricio Pochettino!
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