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Ange Postecoglou faces Tottenham contract call on underrated star amid James Maddison backing

Ange Postecoglou knows the full value of Ben Davies' importance to the Tottenham squad
-Credit: (Image: Chloe Knott - Danehouse/Getty Images)


One of James Maddison's Instagram Stories on Sunday morning said it all. Reposting birthday messages and uploading content from Tottenham's 4-0 drubbing of Manchester City to his social media account, there was then a photo of what appeared to be AC Milan and Italy great Paolo Maldini.

It wasn't actually the Italian in the image, though. Instead, the defensive great's head had been replaced by that of Tottenham defender Ben Davies.

Going on the outstanding display he delivered in Saturday evening's win at the Etihad Stadium, quite a number of people may now be referring to him as 'The Welsh Maldini' on a permanent basis. Davies was a huge figure at the back for Tottenham as they managed to stop Erling Haaland & Co. from scoring in the Premier League showdown.

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Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski may have dominated all the headlines following their showings at the Etihad, but players such as Guglielmo Vicario, Radu Dragusin and Davies gave them a solid platform to go and put City to the sword. Already without Micky van de Ven for the game, Spurs were delivered a blow on the injury front heading into the match in Manchester with Cristian Romero unavailable for the contest.

That meant Davies came into the backline to partner Dragusin. The duo have already struck up a strong understanding in their game time together in the Europa League and Carabao Cup this season, thus meaning Ange Postecoglou's side weren't going into the game with a makeshift defensive pairing with very little football between them.

As he has done this term when called upon, Davies produced an excellent performance at the back and he quite rightly came in for plenty of praise from Tottenham fans in the process. Very much a calm head in defence for Tottenham, the 31-year-old made six clearances and one block in his game time, completed 54 of his 65 passes and passed the ball into the final third four times.

The ex-Swansea City man also had a hand in the third goal of the night after making an interception that sent the team away for Pedro Porro's strike not long after the restart. It came as no surprise to see Maddison dub Davies as "Mr Reliable" on his Instagram account and Dejan Kulusevski hail him as "unbelievable", with Postecoglou also going on to praise the versatile defender in his post-match press conference.

"Yeah, I thought they were all great," said the 59-year-old. "You have to be against City because obviously they've got big Erling up there, but the way they deliver the ball, the areas they consistently probe, you've got to be focused the whole time and I thought Ben and Radu were really focused, I thought Vic behind them was really positive as well with his positioning and the way they communicated. I thought Biss was important to that.

"I think the key for us was we had to do it as a collective today. I think when you play City, you can't rely on individuals to find solutions out there and collectively, I thought we defended really well, but credit to those two guys and not just defensively, but we had to play out from the back.

"It was the only way we were going to deliver balls to the areas we wanted to and both Ben and Radu didn't shy away from that. It wasn't always easy, but they consistently were looking for the ball and looking for us to play out from the back. So credit to those guys."

Davies has served Tottenham so well in his 10 years at the club following his move from Swansea City. He may not be be the most fashionable player in Spurs' ranks but the fact he has been a regular under Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte tells you all you need to know about him.

Davies has always delivered consistent performances for the Lilywhites but maybe hasn't always received the flowers he has deserved. Instead, some fans have deemed him as someone who should have been moved on in previous transfer windows as part of a much-needed squad refresh in N17 to help get the club back on track.

Most importantly, though, his managers haven't viewed him like that and he still remains a key part of the playing squad to this day. Saturday evening's display against Manchester City highlighted exactly why the experienced defender still has a big part to play for the football club and why it may be wise to extend his contract beyond its current expiry date of this summer.

An underrated player and terrific professional who deserves a lot more recognition for his career to date, 'The Welsh Maldini' is a big asset for Postecoglou and Tottenham. That was evident as Tottenham made everyone sit up and take notice with that 4-0 rout at the Etihad Stadium.

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