James Maddison has urged Tottenham to keep acting like a “top team” after they headed into the international break still unbeaten in the Premier League.
Spurs have faced Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal during their first eight league fixtures under new boss Ange Postecoglou and collected 20 points out of a possible 24.
It represents Tottenham’s best start to a league season since their 1960-61 double-winning campaign, but they were forced to produce a different type of display on Saturday in a hard-fought 1-0 win at Luton, where they played the whole of the second half with 10 men.
“You get the same three points here as you do beating Liverpool and United at home,” Maddison said. “It’s just as important. I absolutely loved the character of the lads.
“You have 38 games in a season and not every game is going pretty, scoring goals, free-flowing, ‘AngeBall’.
“Sometimes you have to dig deep and show the grit and determination. People are always asking top teams, do they have that side to them? The top teams all do and we want to be a top team. I’m so happy we showed that.”
Ex-Celtic boss Postecoglou has only worked with this group of players since July, but they have quickly taken to his front-foot, attacking philosophy.
Spurs have scored 18 goals in the Premier League with summer recruit Maddison involved in seven and topping the assist charts with five so far after he set up Micky van de Ven’s winner on Saturday, but he insists they remain a work in progress.
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He added: “We’re so early into the manager’s reign. We’re at the start. Even in training, sometimes the messages he’s giving us, it’s still new, we’re still working on it. It’s not like we’re three years in.
“When you’ve worked with a manager for a long time, like when I was at Leicester with Brendan (Rodgers), I had been there that long I knew what he wanted from me.
“I’d realise who we were playing at the weekend and have an idea of what my role would be at the weekend before we’d even trained or worked on it. You get that partnership and relationship.
“We’re so early, we’re still at the start of that. It’s not about getting carried away.
“Of course, it’s better to be up that end than the other end. Believe me, I’ve done both! I just want to continue that, continue working and that will leave it us where it leaves us.”
Tottenham went top of the table on Saturday but Maddison played down talk of a title tilt yet.
“We’ve played Arsenal, we’ve played Liverpool, we’ve played United. Coming here, it’s just a different type of challenge but it’s still tough,” the England international said.
“Just because you’re playing Luton, it doesn’t mean there is more time or more space. It’s just a different challenge.
“I probably didn’t expect us to be top of the league, unbeaten, no.
“Realistically you would never even guess that far ahead. You just want to start well and we’re looking to continue that.”
Haaland pinpoints collective Man City quality after four-goal blitz of Wolves
Erling Haaland blasted four goals past Wolves in a one-man Premier League show but the Manchester City forward says it would not be possible without manager Pep Guardiola or his team-mates.
The City talisman took his top-flight tally to 25 for this season, moving five clear of his nearest challenger in the Premier League Golden Boot race, after Saturday's 5-1 thrashing of Wolves.
Haaland was twice on target from the penalty spot as part of his first-half hat-trick, adding another after the interval with an arrowed strike into the top-left corner.
It was the first time the Norway star has managed four goals in one Premier League game, with his quartet of strikes coming in 54 minutes. Only Gabriel Jesus has scored as many earlier in one match, doing so in 53 minutes against Watford in April 2022.
Haaland also became the third player to score multiple first-half hat-tricks in Premier League history (also against Nottingham Forest last season), along with Andrew Cole and Michael Owen (two each).
Yet the superstar attacker says his exploits would not be possible without his City colleagues or boss Guardiola.
"I've got a not-too-bad manager who pushes me and look at the players around me," Haaland told Sky Sports when asked about his motivations.
"Without them, it would not be possible. Look ahead, look to next one – four finals left for the season. We're going to go for it and focus on Fulham."
It was Haaland's sixth Premier League hat-trick for City, with only seven players netting more in the competition’s history. All six of those trebles have been at the Etihad, only three have more at a single venue.
Haaland's second strike came from a towering header following Rodri's right-wing centre, which he suggested would delight his father Alfie.
"That's a beautiful goal," the Norwegian said of his headed finish. "My father is going to be happy with that one.
"A nice celebration, I enjoyed that one. I'm scoring more headers, I try to develop and keep going."
City are within a point of Premier League leaders Arsenal and Guardiola's side still have a game in hand against Tottenham on May 14.
Despite the thrashing of Wolves, Haaland insists Guardiola remains intent on winning the remaining games, rather than calculating the probabilities needed on goal difference.
"First of all it's about winning the games but, of course, you want to have the best possible goal difference," he added. "Let's not think about that. Think about Fulham."
Shaw reveals how advice from former Man City stalwarts Bronze, Sterling assisted her to settle at the club
After struggling to find her footing when she just arrived at Manchester City, Jamaica international Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw, revealed that it was the advice of Lucy Bronze and Raheem Sterling, coupled with hard work, that assisted in her now being the club's record goalscorer.
Since her transfer from Bordeaux in 2021, Shaw has cemented her status as one of the game’s most clinical strikers during her spell with Gareth Taylor's side so far. In the process, she smashed a number of records, including most goals scored by a Manchester City women’s player in a single season -31 in the 2022-23 campaign -before becoming the club's all-time leading goalscorer with 72 goals overall.
However, she wasn't always confident that she would have accomplished those feats, as she pointed out how guidance from former Manchester City pair Bronze and Sterling put her on the path to history in sky blue, after a difficult early period at the Joie Stadium.
“When I came here initially, I was struggling a bit,” Shaw revealed on The Women's Game Podcast with Sam Mewis.
“One day I was coming in from training and Lucy [Bronze] was coming in as well and she asked, ‘are you okay?’ and I said ‘I just can’t get the way they play, I can’t get it right’. City play a specific type of way and I was saying when we were walking in from training ‘I cannot get this right’. I didn’t know if here was for me.
“She started laughing and she was like ‘you focus on what got you here, the bits you do well that got you here, there’s something they saw in you that got you here’. At that moment I was like ‘wow’. I then called Raheem [Sterling] and I said the same thing to him. He was just laughing and said, ‘when I came from Liverpool I struggled a bit, they play a certain way so trust the process, believe in what you’re doing and believe in yourself’," she added.
From there, the 26-year-old Shaw said she continued to put in the work, both on and off the field until her performances came together.
“I put the comments from both Lucy and Raheem together and it made sense. I told myself to continue working and watching the videos, see how I could improve my game and seeing how best I can help the team. By doing that, it helped a little better day-by-day. Couple of weeks later I called Raheem and said, ‘it’s working!’ He was laughing and said, ‘I told you, you’ve just got to believe in yourself and do all the right things and focus on you first and foremost before you can focus on anything else’," Shaw shared.
Although her 2023/24 campaign was cut short due to a broken foot, Shaw will finish the campaign with 22 goals and five assists. And she credits her sparkling City success to her dedication on the City Football Academy training pitch.
“I just kept at it and believing in myself. The confidence comes from scoring goals and as the games come, I’m thriving," she ended.
Burnley boss Kompany demands never-say-die attitude as Premier League relegation looms
Vincent Kompany refused to admit defeat as Burnley slipped closer to Premier League relegation after a 4-1 thrashing by Newcastle United at Turf Moor.
The Clarets' heavy defeat, coupled with Nottingham Forest's 3-1 win over Sheffield United on Saturday, leaves Burnley five points adrift of safety with just two games remaining.
Burnley's loss was their 22nd in the Premier League this season (W5 D9), only in 2009-10 (24) and 1975-76 (23) have the Clarets lost more times in a Football League campaign.
Yet Kompany attempted to find the positives in the performance, suggesting there is still a chance his side take it to the final day against fellow relegation-battlers Forest.
"In the end I am not beaten or defeated by it personally in terms of my attitude," said Kompany.
"They are a good side with phenomenal attacking players, midfielders comfortable on the ball and aggressive in other situations.
"We never let this game die, the result and score was done but we kept going, kept threatening and that is all I can ask my players to do.
"For us, we have to look at that [next] Tottenham game as the final game of the season. If the opposition teams lose and we win, what are you going to write then? That's all it is.
"If they lose and we win, all of a sudden we have a different discussion before the next game. If we get a bonus with a game against Forest, then that's our final, that's how we have to look at it."
Callum Wilson, Sean Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak – the latter who saw a second-half penalty saved, too – were all on target in a home humbling for Burnley.
Dara O'Shea's late consolation goal mattered for little as this disappointing result was made more painful by Forest winning at Bramall Lane.
Nuno Espirito Santo's 17th-placed side fell behind to Ben Brereton Diaz's penalty, only for Callum Hudson Odoi's brace and a second-half finish from Ryan Yates to save the day.
Blades manager Chris Wilder was left aggrieved, though, as his already-relegated United wanted a free-kick for a foul on Brereton Diaz in the build-up to Yates' goal that made it 2-1.
"I will let you put two and two together. I think it is a pretty easy, comfortable decision for everybody to make because of the situation," Wilder said, seemingly referencing Forest's recent problems with refereeing.
"I will let you decide on that situation. I'm not going to get dragged into that debate, a foul is a foul, whether it is a push in any part of the pitch.
“For me it is a foul, people tell me the game has moved on, you could say Ben needs to be stronger, but there is no need for him to go down like that, you can see he has two hands in his back.
"They score from that opportunity, we go 2-1 down."
Forest's top-flight safety could be secure before they face Chelsea next Saturday, with Burnley needing victory away against Tottenham to take their survival hopes to the final day.
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