Micky van de Ven was involved in a controversial decision during Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth in the Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur suffered a cruel 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Thursday evening.
Spurs thought they’d secured a point when Joao Palhinha scored an incredible bicycle kick. The Palhinha strike made it 2-2 for Tottenham, after Mathys Tel’s opener was cancelled out by Evanilson before Eli Kroupi Junior gave Bournemouth the lead.
However, a stoppage-time goal from Antoine Semenyo proved the difference between the sides, as he bid farewell to the Bournemouth fans ahead of moving to Manchester City. It was another crushing blow for Thomas Frank, who has now only picked up one win in his past six matches.
Former PGMOL referee agrees with VAR’s decision to overturn Tottenham penalty
The five-goal thriller at the Vitality Stadium was no short of controversy. When Spurs were chasing the game in the second half, Micky van de Ven took matters into his own hands. He set off on one of his trademark, mazy runs, and he went down in the box under the challenge of James Hill.
Referee Darren England awarded a penalty as a result, but VAR immediately intervened and decided that Micky van de Ven initiated the contact with Hill. The Tottenham defender was incensed when Darren England overturned the penalty decision and awarded a drop ball to the hosts, earning a yellow card for his protests.
Ex-PGMOL referee Keith Hackett agreed with VAR’s decision to overturn a penalty, and even accused Van de Ven of diving in the box. He feels in the desperate situation of the Lilywhites, the Netherlands international did everything in his locker to buy a penalty.
“The overturn of the penalty kick award to Tottenham is the correct decision,” Keith Hackett exclusively told Tottenham News.
“The attacking player manufacturing contact with his opponent and exaggeration the dive in an act of simulation.”
We respectfully disagree with Hackett’s words on Van de Ven. The 24-year-old was travelling at some speed upon entering the box, so any contact was going to disbalance him, and Thomas Frank’s Tottenham were arguably unlucky not to be given a penalty. The on-field referee was spot on to immediately point to the spot, only for the VAR to intervene and order England to go to the pitch-side monitor to have another look.
Had Spurs been awarded the penalty, the outcome at the Vitality Stadium may have been different. Instead of returning to north London empty-handed, Frank and Co. could have pinched a point or even won the game, who knows? It was a decisive moment in the game that sadly went against Tottenham.