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Ben Foster cannot believe what happened to Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven at EURO 2024
Ben Foster has expressed his surprise at a development involving Tottenham No.37 Micky van de Ven at UEFA EURO 2024.
The Dutchman is away in Germany with the Netherlands for his first taste of a major tournament – and played a part as Ronald Koeman’s side defeated Poland by two goals to one in the opening match of Group D on Sunday.
So, what happened to Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven that surprised Ben Foster? Let’s take a look…
Ben Foster shocked by how the Netherlands use Micky van de Ven
Speaking on his YouTube channel – The Cycling GK – Foster could not believe that the Tottenham star is struggling to make Koeman’s starting XI.
The 41-year-old was also baffled to see Van de Ven playing at left-back when he did eventually get a chance to make his UEFA EURO 2024 debut, which only lasted a few moments as he came on in the 87th minute.
Foster : “Talking about defenders, did you see the Dutch backline, by the way? Oh my gosh! Micky van de Ven can’t even get into the starting lineup. He didn’t start. He came on at left-back, he did. He came on at left-back, Micky van de Ven.”
The man from Wormer just won Tottenham’s Player of the Season award while operating in the centre of defence, so it was strange to see Koeman leave him out, and then proceed to use him on the left.
Ronald Koeman is wasting the Tottenham No.37
Like Foster, we also cannot believe Koeman left Van de Ven on the bench.
The 23-year-old is remarkably quick, even becoming the fastest player in Premier League history after one particularly blistering sprint last season.
In tournament football, a rapid defender like Van de Ven is exactly the type of player many sides would be desperate to have, as his recovery pace allows teammates to push higher, and feel safer when leaving space in behind.
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Therefore, we simply do not understand why Koeman opted to leave the Spurs star out – a partnership of him and Virgil van Dijk would seemingly be the stuff of dreams, but not in the Netherlands manager’s eyes for some reason.