Van de Ven brushes off Frank snub and reflects on his Spurs wondergoal

Micky van de Ven has downplayed the furore over his standoff with Thomas Frank after Tottenham’s Premier League defeat by Chelsea on Saturday, insisting it was misinterpreted and blown out of proportion. The centre-half preferred to focus on how the team had bounced back to thrash Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday – a tie in which he scored a thrilling individual goal.

Van de Ven was all smiles after Copenhagen, his surge and finish from one box to the other drawing comparisons to Son Heung-min’s Puskas Award-winning effort for Spurs against Burnley in 2019. It was a vivid contrast to the post-Chelsea scenes when Spurs were booed off by their home crowd, having also been jeered by them during the game.

Van de Ven walked off the field with his teammate Djed Spence and they were so frustrated that they blanked Frank as the manager attempted to get them to acknowledge the supporters; they made straight for the dressing room instead. The episode was filmed and shared by a fan – and it coloured the buildup to the Copenhagen tie, which was also at home. Frank revealed that Van de Ven and Spence had each been into his office on Sunday to say sorry to him.

“It’s the past so I don’t want to make it bigger than it is,” Van de Ven said. “Djed and I walked off. We were just frustrated after the game and everything got really exploded by the media. It was nothing big. Everyone thinks it was the gaffer … there was nothing to do with the gaffer.

“We were just frustrated 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 frustrated and I just wanted to go quick inside … It was really frustrating. We played a derby at home against Chelsea and it’s a massive game.”

Van de Ven said Spurs had “needed to bounce back in a positive way” and had done so against Copenhagen. He has six goals this season, making him the team’s top scorer with two more than anyone else. The fastest player in Premier League history, he has a reputation for making things happen with storming runs, two assists from last season standing out.

In the home game against Everton he sprinted from the edge of his own area before passing for Son to score and at Manchester United he ran from deep, slicing up the inside left of the opposing area and squaring from the byline for Brennan Johnson. He took matters to the next level against Copenhagen. Spurs host United on Saturday, the final game before the international break.

“I got the ball [on the edge of] my own box,” he said of the goal against Copenhagen, “and I saw the gap opening every time in front of me when I started dribbling. At one point I think 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.’ 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. But this time, when I was past these defenders, the way was all the way open. Then I was like: ‘Now I need to go myself.’ It’s a really important win to go towards Manchester United, which is going to be really tough and an important game.”

Van de Ven was asked whether he was targeting 15 or 20 goals for the season and it was unclear whether the questioner was joking. “No, six goals is a lot already,” he replied. “I don’t know where it’s going to end but hopefully I can score more this season.”