James Maddison was not taken off at half-time against West Ham due to injury. After completing 45 minutes in north London, Ange Postecoglou chose to substitute the midfielder during the break.
Initially a fitness worry having gone down in the first half after a blow from West Ham's Jarrod Bowen, it was confirmed on TNT Sport's coverage of the game that there was no injury to Maddison. Maddison was replaced by Pape Matar Sarr and returned to sit on the bench.
Spurs, who had been trailing 1-0 thanks to Mohammed Kudus' back post opener, hit back with Dejan Kulusevski to level the match. That doesn't seem to have been enough for Ange Postecolgou though, as he removed Maddison at the earliest stage of Premier League game this season.
The decision looked to pay off immediately. Within 10 minutes of the restart Tottenham were 3-1 up. Goals from Yves Bissouma and a Jean-Clair Todibo turned the momentum of the match entirely.
For Postecoglou, it came in the first game after claiming that he didn't want to make changes against Brighton. Even though his side had been in the middle of a collapse on the south coast, Postecoglou chose not to bring on reinforcements, instead claiming that he preferred to leave players to problem-solve on the job.
A different method was used against the Hammers, with Maddison not spared. Instead, Tottenham ended up with a midfield including more defensive presence.
Sarr joined Bissoma as cover with Kulusevski offered space to roam. Tottenham made use of this, adding a quickfire fourth through Son Heung-Min.
Maddison, unable to cash in on the host of attacking moves, was left to watch on as his teammates made their defensively frail opponents pay.
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