JUST IN: After restraining himself from the Man City temptation, Ange Postecoglou may now unveil a new Tottenham collaboration.

Tottenham’s FA Cup ambitions are over for another season after a very late exit at the hands of Man City on Friday evening. Just not doing enough to trouble the visitors in the final third but managing to keep them at bay, it did appear that the sides would be playing out a cup replay in Manchester.

However, Nathan Ake ensured that wasn’t to be the case after turning the ball home on the line following a Kevin De Bruyne corner in the 88th minute. Tottenham had called for a foul on Guglielmo Vicario as Ruben Dias contested for the ball with the shot-stopper but the decision was to go the way of the visitors.

Having only registered one shot on goal in a frustrating performance, Ange Postecoglou introduced the returning James Maddison with 18 minutes remaining as they searched for a late winner. The 27-year-old unfortunately couldn’t have a say on proceedings after only managing six touches of the ball at a time when Pep Guardiola’s side were increasing the pressure on the Lilywhites.

Admitting in his pre-match press conference that Maddison was in a position to start after almost three months out with an ankle issue, Postecoglou elected to resist the temptation of starting the England international and instead opted to ease him back in. Having thrown both Cristian Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur into the starting XI ahead of schedule following their speedy returns, that unfortunately wasn’t to be the case with the ex-Leicester City star.

“Not really,” said Postecoglou in his post-match press conference when asked if it was a close decision to not have the player starting the game. “I think knowing the nature of the game today, he’s trained well this week-and-a-half but he’s missed a lot of football.

“We were hoping to get him some minutes tonight which he did and he should be right to go from now on, but there’s another two games next week and we need him and others to pitch in. So yeah it wasn’t really much of a dilemma about whether to start him or not. I just felt that just coming off the bench was going to be better for us as a team more than anything else.”

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Now having another few days to boost his fitness levels ahead of Wednesday’s game at home to Brentford, Maddison looks increasingly likely to start in midweek. Going on Spurs’ woes in the final third against Man City with no sign of a killer pass, starting the attacking ace is an absolute must for Postecoglou.

The game will also present the head coach with the opportunity to go with both Maddison and Bentancur in midfield for the very first time in a Tottenham shirt. Appearing that the Man City cup fixture would be the occasion where Postecoglou would unleash them both at the same time, it was the Uruguayan who was replaced by Maddison in the 72nd minute.

Even in Bentancur’s comeback game against Crystal Palace in October there was to be no playing time together as Maddison had just come off the pitch seconds before the midfielder stepped back on to the field after almost nine months out. Both players are very much in Postecoglou’s strongest midfield when everyone is fit but as of yet we have unfortunately not seen them together at the same time.

That should now change in the coming weeks as both players are fit and available at such a crucial time in the season. As Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was playing in the deeper midfield role in the Man City defeat, that could allow Bentancur and Maddison to be Spurs’ two No.8s at home to the Bees and then in Saturday’s game at Everton.

The pair do look to have a good understanding already after training footage from Hotspur Way in late October showed signs of a potential partnership. Taking part in a possession-based game, the summer signing could be seen flicking the ball to his teammate with the outside of his boot before receiving it back.

The pair then immediately played another quick one-two to nullify Brennan Johnson as they moved away from the winger.

Now time to let them develop that understanding on the pitch for Tottenham, it could be Brentford on Wednesday who feel the full force of Maddison and Bentancur linking up for the very first time. Postecoglou and Spurs certainly need that to be the case after another early cup exit