Tottenham were defeated by Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup on penalties.
Unfortunately for Spurs, it wasn’t meant to be as they surrendered a two-goal lead late on before eventually succumbing to the European champions in a penalty shootout.
Thomas Frank would have instantly endeared himself to the Spurs faithful even more if he had managed to bring more European silverware back to North London, but for now, this is not the case.
Micky Van de Ven was one of those to miss his spot kick, and now the defender has come out and apologised.
Van de Ven posts message after penalty miss
Frank was able to utilise Van de Ven and his fellow centre-back Cristian Romero in an attacking sense in Wednesday’s match, with their attacking threat from set-pieces impressing Premier League icon Wayne Rooney.
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The manner in which the Spurs defence capitulated late on will be cause for concern for Frank, however, as the Danish manager attempts to tighten up Tottenham’s defence.
After his penalty was saved in the shootout, Van de Ven took to Instagram on 14 August to apologise.
“Devastated about last night. Sorry that I couldn’t help the team in the penalty shootout,” he posted.
The defender was not the only one to miss in the shootout, with Mathys Tel failing to hit the target and spooning his effort wide of the post.
Van de Ven crucial to Spurs next season
Given their injury woes last campaign, if Frank can have Van de Ven and Romero playing together on a regular basis, that will go a long way to remedy their defensive issues from last season.
With Romero recently pledging his future to the club and being named captain, Spurs fans can breathe a sigh of relief that their Argentinian ace is not going anywhere for the foreseeable.
It will be interesting to see if Frank continues to deploy a back five with Kevin Danso playing alongside Van de Ven and Romero, or whether he will feel he can open up more when they play inferior opposition.