The Super Bowl might not be until next Sunday, but I think we just witnessed Tottenham Hotspur Banter Bowl I. Tottenham came from 1-0 down to defeat Brentford at home by the score of 3-2, but the goals weren’t the only fireworks going off on that pitch.
Brentford strikers Neil Maupay and Ivan Toney spent much of the first half gettin’ all up in Spurs’ business, with numerous incidents of shithousery and banter. This was most exemplified after Brentford’s first goal, a saved shot from Toney that was bundled past Guglielmo Vicario in the first half. Maupay and Toney celebrated in front of Spurs’ fans by doing Maddison’s “dart celebration, and prompting the two to have a little tete-a-tete as Maupay raced back to the center circle to restart play.
In that first half, Maupay also said something to Dejan Kulusevski, who took exception and shoved the Frenchman to the ground. Both players received a yellow card for that incident.
But Spurs had the last laugh. Richarlison threw the imaginary dart — twice — right back at Maupay after scoring Spurs’ second goal of the second half, and Maddison was able to twist the dagger a bit in a post-match interview on TNT.
“I just said to [Maupay] that he probably hasn’t scored enough goals over the last few years to have his own celebration, so he had to copy mine.”
Lol…lmao. The main man at a roast dinner, indeed!
Vicario, meanwhile got a dig in on Toney, perhaps uncharitably referring to Toney’s recent long-term suspension from football for gambling offenses.
Guglielmo Vicario on what he said to Ivan Toney at full time:
️ “He was talking to me a lot during the match. When it was over, I just told him I hope he didn’t bet on that result.” #THFC #COYS
— Prem Inside (@ThePremInside) January 31, 2024
Maupay, obviously smarting a bit, tried to hit back on his Insta, but if you ask me the effort was a bit weak sauce.
Even Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had a little fun at Brentford’s expense. Honestly, I haven’t seen this many darts reference since Luke Littler made the PDC Championship final.
For whatever it’s worth, Ange Postecoglou was less than impressed with the way Spurs players reacted in the first half of the match. Postecoglou specifically mentioned Maddison as someone who spent more time than he would’ve liked talking to the match officials and bantering on the field when he should’ve been focused on football.
“I hope [it didn’t fire the team up] because that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I’m not a fan of it, I don’t like the whole bravado, pushing people around. If you’re that brave about things, my players and their players, get into a UFC cage and I’ll see how brave they are. We’re out there to play football. And that’s what I want our guys to do, focus on playing football. And they shouldn’t get motivated by things that aren’t really that important to us. Like I said, we got sucked in first half. Second half was much better.
“[Maddison] got more and more into the game and I think he’s one of the guilty ones who spent more time in the first half chatting to the ref than getting on the ball. That’s not what we want him to do. We want him to play football and I thought in the second half his quality shone through and when he’s like that, and I’m sure that game will do him the world of good, it just gives us so much more flow through that central area.”
That’s fine for you to say Ange, but I enjoyed the hell out of that. I’m here for Banterham Hotspur, especially after the original shithousers got what was coming to them.