Trent Alexander-Arnold sends clear James Maddison message after Tottenham masterclass vs Man City

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.

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