Micky van de Ven has downplayed the furore over his snub of Thomas Frank after Tottenham's defeat to Chelsea, insisting the incident was misinterpreted and blown out of proportion. The centre-half and team-mate Djed Spence walked off the pitch without acknowledging the head coach, who wanted them to applaud the home fans, but Van de Ven said it was purely down to frustration.
“It’s the past so I don’t want to make it bigger than it is,” Van de Ven said. “Djed and I walked off. We were just frustrated after the game and everything got really exploded by the media. It was nothing big. Everyone thinks it was the gaffer … there was nothing to do with the gaffer.” The pair later apologised to Frank in his office on Sunday.
Van de Ven preferred to focus on Tottenham’s impressive Champions League victory over FC Copenhagen, a game in which he scored a stunning individual goal. The Dutchman collected the ball on the edge of his own box, surged forward and finished from distance, drawing comparisons to Son Heung-min’s Puskas Award-winning strike for Spurs against Burnley in 2019.
“I got the ball on the edge of my own box and I saw the gap opening every time in front of me when I started dribbling,” he said. “At one point I think some players were around me and I came through and I saw the way was open to the goal. So I was like: ‘OK, I keep going now, I need to finish this.’ Luckily it happened.”
The goal was Van de Ven’s sixth of the season, making him Tottenham’s top scorer – two more than any other player. Despite his reputation for storming runs, he laughed off suggestions of targeting 15 or 20 goals. “No, six goals is a lot already,” he said. “I don’t know where it’s going to end but hopefully I can score more this season.”
Tottenham host Manchester United on Saturday in what Van de Ven described as a “really tough and important game”. The win over Copenhagen provided the perfect momentum boost after the disappointing Chelsea defeat.
