Ange Postecoglou lauds 'outstanding' Tottenham performance in Southampton drubbing, heaps praise on Djed Spence

Ange Postecoglou praised his players after an "outstanding" 5-0 win against Southampton on Sunday.

Spurs ended their run of five games without a win as they ruthlessly put Southampton to the sword at St Mary’s Stadium on Sunday, piling more pressure on an already under-fire Russell Martin.

With just one win in eight games before travelling to Southampton, Postecoglou's side were in desperate need of a win.

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It took only 37 seconds for James Maddison to open the scoring after he ran onto Djed Spence’s through ball. Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski added goals to make it 3-0 before the 15th minute.

Pape Matar Sarr scored the fourth and Maddison added his second of the game shortly before half-time.

"It was outstanding by the players," Postecoglou told TNT Sports. "We had a tough European game away on Thursday night.

"We had 10 first-team players unavailable, so for the lads to come out with that sort of energy and that sort of quality in the first half is just outstanding.

"We needed to come out quickly because we knew we were going to get tired today. We're asking a lot of some of our players and others haven't played at all.

"We've had great opportunities in the last three games in the first minute of the game. I said to them before the game 'Let's be ready.' It was a great endeavour by Djed and a great finish by Maddison."

"He has had to bide his time," the Spurs boss said. "To be fair to him, whenever he has played he has done well. We haven't been able to give him too much game time because full-back is one of the positions we have a bit of cover, but we needed him to come in and play at a good level and he did. It's a credit to him."

On the importance of a win, he added: "You just want the players to feel good and get a reward for their efforts. We can't rest or rotate and you want them to feel good. They get their reward tonight and we'll recover and get ready for a big game on Thursday."

'Big night for us' - Maddison

After scoring twice in their 5-0 rout, James Maddison told TNT Sports how important the win was for Spurs against the backdrop of other Premier League sides struggling for results.

"A great night. It was an important night for us," he said. "You can see big teams struggling throughout the league to get results. So make no mistake how important that victory and performance is. That was a big night for us."

Like his manager, Maddison also praised Spence for his his role in the opening goal.

"He's a great lad. Djed's quite a laid-back character so I don't think he needed too much of a pep talk," Maddison added.

"I told him before, go and do what you do. He got the ball and wriggled and that run is one I’ve been working on for years. It was a brilliantly weighted pass and I just had to finish it off. So credit to him.

"We can blow any team away in this league. Not just teams like Southampton, we went to Man City and did it. It's up to us to show that on a more consistent regular basis. That was a proper performance today and I’m proud of the lads. We needed a big night tonight.

"We showed grit and determination in Glasgow on Thursday night. We're really short on numbers in terms of the squad, so I'm really proud of the boys."

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