Postecoglou says Maddison withdrawal was purely tactical after Spurs thrash West Ham

Ange Postecoglou confirmed there was no injury to James Maddison, who was taken off in Spurs' 4-1 win over West Ham this afternoon.

The home supporters would have been concerned to see the Australian replace the Tottenham playmaker at half-time, but Postecoglou said the decision to swap him for Pape Sarr was purely tactical.

The Spurs boss said he was concerned about West Ham's physicality in the middle of the park and believed Sarr could give his side the extra power they needed.

And it worked a treat, with Tottenham scoring three goals in an eight-minute spell at the start of the second half which killed off the Hammers' challenge.

Asked if there was any injury to Maddison - who gained an assist for Dejan Kulusevski's first-half equaliser - Postecoglou said at his post-match press conference: "No. West Ham ask you questions in midfield areas and I just felt Pape's running power would help in the second half.

“ I just thought he could give us a real energy. I thought he did really well and that gave us a platform to be really threatening every time we went forward and clinical in our football.

"I thought it was a strong overall performance which required us to show certain facets, and that was the most pleasing thing."

West Ham took the lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium midway through the first half through Mohammed Kudus, whose afternoon ended in disappointment after he was sent off for a hand in the face of Micky Van de Ven.

But Spurs hit back - Kulusevski equalised on 36 minutes before an own goal eventually put down to goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was sandwiched between goals from Yves Bissouma and Heung-Min Son.

Postecoglou said: "It was disappointing to concede but I thought we worked our way back into the match well and created some good chances.

"Second half we went up a gear. I thought our football was excellent but we did some of the hard stuff we had to do to gain control of the midfield area.

"Part of the momentum we built in the second half came from the energy the supporters gave us, especially after the second goal. You felt the stadium lift and that pushed us along, and we had a 15-20-minute spell where we were outstanding.

“It goes hand-in-hand, we need the support but for them to provide that we have to give them something in return, so hopefully today is a reward for our fans."

Picture: Ange Postecoglou (Picture: Yann Tear)