Tottenham defender Jan Paul van Hecke has criticised Getafe’s aggressive approach to their pre-season friendly, claiming the LaLiga side would have been shown “two or three red cards” in a competitive game.
Feisty friendly ends level
Spurs drew 1-1 in Saturday’s behind-closed-doors game at their Hotspur Way training base in Enfield, which was played over a shorter period of 70 minutes. It was a feisty affair throughout that saw Conor Gallagher net a late equaliser for Tottenham after Getafe had initially gone ahead in the second half through youngster Alberto Risco.
Van Hecke unimpressed
New Spurs signing Van Hecke was not impressed with the visitors’ intense gameplan, which he considered to be overly combative for a pre-season contest. “Sometimes it’s good, I thought today was a bit too much from their side,” the versatile Dutch centre-back - who joined Tottenham from Brighton for £60million in June - told SPURSPLAY afterwards. “Sometimes it’s not necessary, especially in a friendly.
“I think in a normal game they have maybe two or three red cards, but that’s also maybe the way they play. We knew beforehand that they can do it but it’s a friendly so sometimes you think maybe a bit less, but at the other side we need to also be at our top then because if you’re not putting in your foot, then they are going to win it.”
Standing up to the challenge
He added: “If that’s what the game asks, then you also need to put your foot in and battle with them. Otherwise they win the battles, and that’s what you don’t want. That’s the first thing in football, you need to win. I think today we showed it as well, but it was sometimes a bit too much.”
On Spurs standing up to the physical challenge posed by Getafe, Van Hecke said: “You see sometimes it gets a bit heated, but that’s also because of the reaction you know. If you get kicked, you are gonna react. And you think, ‘next time, I’ll get you back’. That’s why I say it’s a friendly, so sometimes you’ve got be like, ‘oh boys, let’s be a bit calm, don’t be provoked.”
