Micky van de Ven has insisted that his frustrated exit from the pitch alongside Djed Spence following the loss to Chelsea had nothing to do with Tottenham boss Thomas Frank. The 22-year-old Dutchman has been making headlines for all the right reasons after netting a stunning solo goal in the Champions League, which saw him dribble from his own penalty area before beating the Copenhagen keeper at the other end of the pitch on Tuesday night.
This spectacular goal came during a 4-0 victory for a 10-man Tottenham side, after Brennan Johnson was shown a red card, and followed a weekend where Van de Ven felt compelled to apologise to Frank due to an uncomfortable incident post Saturday's derby defeat to Chelsea. The Spurs head coach had witnessed Van de Ven and full-back Spence heading towards him and off the pitch, and requested the pair stay and acknowledge the disappointed home supporters. However, both players declined and proceeded straight past the Danish manager and into the tunnel, leaving him to awkwardly watch them leave.
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The next day, both men independently visited Frank's office at their Hotspur Way training ground to offer their apologies. After scoring his remarkable goal on Tuesday night, Van de Ven was eager to move past that frustrating incident and emphasised it had nothing to do with Frank.
"Of course it's the past so I don't want to make it bigger than it is. Djed and I walked [off], we were just frustrated after the game and everything got really exploded by the media, it was nothing big to be honest," said the centre-back. "Everyone thinks it was the gaffer, there was nothing to do with the gaffer.
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"We were just frustrated after the game because of a bad performance from myself as well. We want to play well and I didn't play well in my opinion, so I was just frustrated and I just wanted to go quickly inside. As I said it got exploded by the media out of nowhere."
Frank had joked after the central defender's incredible goal on Tuesday: "It seems like we had Lionel Messi turned into Micky van de Ven, roaring down from his own goal all the way to the other end and scored a fantastic goal. I think he's our top scorer in all competitions, so he can keep going. He can keep walking past me if he's angry after a game!".
Van de Ven confessed he and Spurs had disappointed the supporters on Saturday and that the crowd contributed to everyone recovering against Copenhagen.
"The fans were good tonight and I think also it helped that we played a good performance," he said. "Saturday was really frustrating. We played a derby at home against Chelsea and it's a massive game for us but also for the fans, we didn't play really well as a team, it was a bad performance from our side. We needed to bounce back in a positive way and I think we did that really well."
Van de Ven embarked on a similar box-to-box surge last season against Everton only to set up Son Heung-min for a late strike, but this time the route was clear for the defender to find the net himself.
"Today I got the ball in my own box, I saw the gap opening every time in front of me when I started dribbling. At one point I thought some players were around me and I came through and I saw the way was open to the goal so I was like 'ok I keep going now I need to finish this'," he said. "At that point I was saying 'I need to score this one'. Luckily it happened.
"The one against Everton with the assist there were some defenders in front of me. When I was past these defenders [this time] the route was all the way open. Then I was like 'now I need to go myself'."
Van de Ven, who featured as a striker during his youth career, now boasts six goals this campaign, having failed to find the back of the net in his debut season. So is he targeting 20 goals now as a forward would?
"No, six goals is a lot already to be honest!" said the Dutchman. "I don't know where it's going to end but hopefully I can score more goals this season."
Van de Ven had kind words for his fellow countryman Xavi Simons, who delivered his finest performance for Spurs since arriving in a £51million switch from RB Leipzig at the end of the summer transfer window. "He had a great performance. He really created some big opportunities from our side. It was a good game from his side and also in the last couple of games," praised the defender.
"Of course he's in a new country so everything is different. Everyone expects a lot from him straight away, he played good games but you guys (the media) are always on him in certain ways of course. But game by game you see he's making steps. He was brilliant tonight."