Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has told FourFourTwo about his disappointment of losing out on Champions League football for next season, despite talk of Spurs’ ulterior motives in the title race.
Tottenham saw their last hopes to qualify for the Champions League disappear after losing at home to Manchester City, with two Erling Haaland goals sealing victory for the visitors – who can now win the title on Sunday if they beat West Ham United.
Though much of the run-up to the game was dominated by discussions of how Tottenham could do their bitter rivals Arsenal a favour by beating City to help Arsenal’s title assault, Van de Ven reflected on his disappointment after starting the game the better of the two sides.
“I think we played a good match in the first half, but in the second half we lost a bit of control and you noticed that City got into the game a bit better at a certain point and they scored pretty quickly after half time,” the defender said. “And then it becomes very difficult against City, although we still got a good chance to make it 1-1. But we didn’t score and then they made it 2-0.”
Van de Ven was deployed as a left back, the position in which he was relocated during the game against Burnley last weekend, and to great success as he scored the winner with eight minutes to go. The defender explained he knew the role from playing there before.
“I’ve played at left back quite often, so for me it is not a very uncommon position to play,” he said. “And in our system it’s a bit of a different position because the full backs often come on the inside, but I am quite used to be playing left back anyway, so that is not a problem.”
The Dutchman is a versatile player – he even played as a forward in his early teens – and his overall adjustment at the club has gone so well that he has been chosen by supporters as their player of the season.
