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Gary Cahill noticed Micky van de Ven kept doing something strange during Tottenham vs Brighton
Tottenham suffered an embarrassing defeat at the weekend as they lost 3-2 to Brighton.
The Seagulls were 2-0 down at half-time, but the tide quickly turned, and Tottenham found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-2 defeat at the end of the game.
All in all, it was a very strange second-half performance from Spurs, and speaking on the Planet Premier League Podcast, Gary Cahill has noted something weird about Micky van de Ven’s performance.
Indeed, Cahill says that he kept noticing Van de Ven was going back to his goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario, in the second-half, inviting on more and more pressure.
Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven kept passing backwards vs Brighton
Cahill noted how Van de Ven was playing negatively against Brighton.
It was particularly strange to see this as Ange Postecoglou has often promoted an all-out-attack style at Tottenham, but, against Brighton, his side appeared to wilt slightly.
“Do you know what I noticed in the game, and it was so random. Micky van de Ven, I’m a massive fan of him, I think he’s top-draw, but the amount of times he passed back to the goalkeeper,” Cahill said.
“I was thinking watching it it’s kind of negative playing it back and playing it safe, and he was looking up and there were no options for him. He passed it back what must have been 10 times, and I really like him as well.”
What Gary Neville said about Van de Ven
It’s so interesting to hear Cahill level this criticism at Van de Ven, because it was only two weeks ago that Gary Neville was lauding him for exactly the opposite.
Indeed, Neville praised Van de Ven due to the fact he doesn’t go backwards.
“The run from Van de Ven for the first goal at Old Trafford, it’s probably the best run I’ve ever seen from a centre-back. Certainly live! It was absolutely incredible,” Neville said.
“The actual cross at the end of it was spectacular.
“I’ve got this major problem at the moment with centre-backs rolling their foot on the ball, passing it back to one another, passing it sideways, passing it to the goalkeeper. It’s boring me to death.”
In just two weeks, Van de Ven went from being hailed for his adventurous running to being questioned for his negative play.
Tottenham have been criticised for being inconsistent as of late, and this is just another example of Spurs’ key players putting in strange performances.