Tottenham Hotspur star Djed Spence made the headlines back in February following his side’s defeat to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Spurs haven’t had a great season at all. They are in the bottom half of the table and are almost certain to finish there in May.
But, Tottenham usually cause Manchester City all sorts of problems, and they put up a great fight in the game between the two sides in February.
City won that game 1-0, but what took place between Guardiola and Spence after the full-time whistle caught a lot of people’s eye.
Djed Spence reveals what Pep Guardiola told him after Tottenham lost to Manchester City
Ange Postecoglou named Spence on the bench when Tottenham hosted Manchester City in the last week of February.
Both sides have had underwhelming campaigns, but following Spurs’ 4-0 win over the reigning Premier League champions earlier in the season, their fans hoped for a win.
But, an Erling Haaland goal during a very poor first half from the home side sealed the win for City, who inflicted Tottenham’s 14th defeat of the season in the Premier League.
After the game, Guardiola was spotted playfully slapping Spence and having a few words with him.
Pep Guardiola just playfully slapped Djed Spence in the face and kept pointing to his chest?
I think that was his way of complementing Spence
— Jay Harris (@jaydmharris) February 26, 2025
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The versatile Spurs defender was a guest on Rio Ferdinand’s podcast, and he finally revealed what happened between the two.
“He gave me a hard smack as well, to be fair,” Spence said.
“He was just like ‘Oh, you play like this? You come on and play like this? You run and run and you play like this against my team?’ I was like ‘Yeah’, that sort of thing.
“And he was like: ‘It’s good. You weren’t playing, now you’re playing, it’s good. Well done!”
Pep Guardiola named five Tottenham players who are ‘unstoppable’
Guardiola has often been seen speaking to opposition players and giving them advice after games.
The Spaniard is arguably the greatest manager of all time, and when he says something, players must listen to him.
When quizzed about what he said to Spence back in February, the Manchester City boss revealed that he told the full-back to run less.
“‘Why do you run too much? You should be more calm,” he said, as per talkSPORT.
“Udogie is quite similar, the pace of this team is difficult to… Maybe Liverpool, but they are unbelievable, unbearable, and every time they have the ball and run, they’re unstoppable; Spence, Pedro Porro, Udogie, Kulusevski, Son.