Micky van de Ven felt his Tottenham teammates should have done more to claim a point against Aston Villa at home
Tottenham Hotspur returned to Premier League duties on Sunday as they hosted Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It was a great opportunity for Thomas Frank’s side to build on the 2-1 away victory over Leeds United before the international break and remain in the top four. But, they were not up to the races and got beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa.
Despite a promising start with Rodrigo Bentancur scoring early, Spurs couldn’t maintain their lead. Aston Villa turned the game around with long-range strikes from Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Buendia. This marked Tottenham’s second Premier League defeat of the season under Thomas Frank, dropping points for the third successive league home game.
Micky van de Ven critical of Tottenham attackers for the Villa defeat
Tottenham suffered a major injury blow before the game as Cristian Romero pulled up in the warm up and was forced to withdraw from the XI, with Kevin Danso taking his place. Micky van de Ven lead the side in Romero’s injury absence and partnered Danso in central defence. The duo did their job well but they couldn’t stop Villa from scoring twice and sealing the points.
The Lilywhites lacked the spark to cut open the Villa side for the second time after Bentancur’s early goal albeit Amadou Onana’s heavy deflection. And while they had more shots, shots on target and clear-cut chances, Thomas Frank’s side were not ruthless enough in front of goal to punish the visitors.
Micky van de Ven was critical of his teammates, seemingly the forwards, for not taking their chances against Villa. The defender felt his side could have done much more to get at least a point- if not three- from the contest.
“I don’t think we did enough. If we’d done enough we wouldn’t have lost this game. I don’t think we gave too much away, they scored two goals from outside the box. But I think we can also create more for ourselves,” Van de Ven told Sky Sports (h/t Football London).
“We always give 100% to the fans and the club and everyone.”
Spurs forwards were poor
Mathys Tel led the Tottenham attack against Villa, fresh from scoring twice for the France Under-21s on international duty. The 20-year-old couldn’t make much of an impact as he was nullified by the Villa defence. Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani came off the bench to add more firepower to the attack as Spurs chased an equaliser. However, the duo did not show up, with Kolo Muani missing a big opportunity to equalise in the box.
Credit to Unai Emery’s side for defending well and being clinical when the chances came up. They exploited Tottenham’s problems in the middle of the park and scored two long-range stunners via Rogers and Buendia. For the Lilywhites, the defeat to Villa highlighted many weaknesses in Frank’s squad. Chief among them is the lack of clinical goalscorer, and come January, the board must spend heavily on one.
