Igor Tudor will lean on Micky van de Ven to lead Tottenham Hotspur through a difficult period
Micky van de Ven has revealed what he thinks about Igor Tudor. The 47-year-old, who was appointed as interim Tottenham Hotspur head coach at the start of the week, has only had a few days on the training pitches, and he appears to have made a great first impression.
Tudor will hope his hard work has paid off when the Lilywhites lock horns with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon. In an interview with Sky Sports, Van de Ven claimed that he's appreciated the Croatian's honesty and directness.
"It's good – he's on us," said the Netherlands international. "He's really honest. He's straight into it, straight forward, and tells us, straight away, what he wants us to do and what he expects from us.
"Of course, it needs some time, but you can see in the way how he behaves. He wants to go into it straight away, and just wants to do it as quick as possible."
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On what Tudor said to the players upon his arrival in north London, Van de Ven said: "He came in, obviously, with a job also, because we're in a tough time right now.
"He said to us: 'I want to do everything to help you guys come out of this tough moment, and we're playing in a beautiful competition with the Champions League, where we're still on the top 8 and straight into the round of 16, and I want to come there as far as possible, but I want to do everything about it to help you guys.'"
Tudor has won the first match in charge in each of his last five stints in the dugout, starting with his second spell at Hajduk Split in February 2020. On the North London Derby, Van de Ven said: "Yeah, we know it's a massive game.
"Arsenal's doing really well, top of the league. We're struggling this season, but everybody knows, in these type of games, anything can happen.
"We know how big it is for the fans, and also, in here, for us, we know how big this game is, so, we're gonna go into it with a good mindset, and ready to make it really difficult for Arsenal."
Tottenham have been dragged into a relegation battle this season, having failed to win a Premier League game since the turn of the new year. When asked what his and the club's targets are for the remainder of the campaign, Van de Ven made his feelings clear.
The Dutchman said: "Just play every game this season and just come out of the season with as many games as I've played already and a better position in the league.
"That's the most important thing right now, and obviously, we have 12 more games, but we need to watch step by step, but the most important is that we climb up the ladder."