James Maddison on City: “It felt like there was a chance for us” | OneFootball

James Maddison was left with a feeling of what might have been after we lost 2-0 to Manchester City in the Premier League on Tuesday night.

City arrived in N17 having won 18 of their previous 21 matches in the competition – winning their last seven on the trot – but seemed to struggle with our new-look line-up with Pape Matar Sarr pushed further forward from midfield, the threat of Brennan Johnson and Heung-Min Son out wide and Madders linking it all together.

Goalless at the break, City scored out of nowhere to lead on 51 minutes with our best chances following at 1-0, only for Stefan Ortega, off the bench for injured Ederson, to deny Dejan Kulusevski and Heung-Min Son. Erling Haaland added his second of the night from the penalty spot to wrap it up for the visitors in added time.

Speaking on the Review Show, James reflected: “It’s always disappointing to lose at home. City are obviously a top team but I felt we had control of the game and a foothold in the game which, against City, isn’t always the case.

“They are a great team with so much quality… but it just felt there was a chance there to win the game, especially in the first half, where it felt we had a bit of control, and they couldn’t really deal with our system. Ultimately though, you can’t keep them out for 90 minutes. You know they are going to have moments and the quality of their attacking play... they took their big moments and that won the game for them.”

The statistics pointed to a good performance with more possession, passes and efforts at goal, and Madders spoke about how our system worked well. “Pape, Rodrigo (Bentancur), we played without a striker, which surprised them a little, they didn’t really know how to press the pockets, it’s very rare the two centre-backs don’t have anyone to mark, but, ultimately, we lost so it’s kind of irrelevant. It’s disappointing because it felt like it was a chance to win a game against a top side.”