James Maddison reveals Ange Postecoglou's only 'non-negotiable' rule he set in place after joining Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur star James Maddison has revealed the ‘non-negotiable’ rule that Ange Postecoglou introduced when he joined the club.

After a dreadful 22/23 season that left Spurs outside of the European places, Postecoglou was brought in from Celtic to change the club’s fortunes.

So far, the Australian has made a blistering start to life in the Premier League as his Spurs side sit top of the league table after their 2-0 win over Fulham on Monday night.

Goals from Son Heung Min and Maddison sealed the victory to send them back to the summit of the table.

Speaking after the match, Maddison, who joined Spurs from Leicester City during the summer transfer window explained the ‘non-negotiable’ rule under Postecoglou.

He said to Sky Sports: “It's one of the main messages [pressing high]. If you look back at the teams he has managed, they have always been front-pressing teams.

“The first day he came in, he said high-pressing is a non-negotiable at any stage of the game. I think we had a game in pre-season when we went 2-0 up and sat back a little bit and he went ballistic at half-time. It was Shakhtar Donetsk here and he said it was how Tottenham have been in the past and he said it's a non-negotiable to carry on pressing throughout the entirety of the game.”

Getty

Talking about his goal the 26-year-old said: “I'm really happy. All of my goal contributions have been away from home and I keep seeing the stats popping up about it.

“It's nice to get off the mark here with a convincing performance and a solid win that puts us back of the table, so I’m relatively happy.”

Spurs will be back in Premier League action on Friday night as they travel to Selhurst Park for a London derby against Crystal Palace.

SPORTbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated news channel to send you the latest news, features and plenty more directly on WhatsApp and all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel here for 'SPORTbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.