Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United 2-0 on Saturday abut Gary Neville wasn’t entirely convinced by Micky van de Ven.
Gary Neville felt Micky van de Ven could have positioned himself a little better in Tottenham Hotspur’s back line against Manchester United.
Spurs came away with a superb 2-0 win on Saturday evening with Pape Matar Sarr opening the scoring.
Lisandro Martinez’s own goal wrapped it up for Tottenham, who now have their first major win of the Ange Postecoglou era.
Tottenham fans were understandably delighted with the win and the unity in North London felt like something not seen for a while.
Tottenham aren’t perfect at this point – far from it.
There are encouraging signs in Postecoglou’s style but the Spurs defence doesn’t quite look secure right now.
Hopefully, that will come with time but Tottenham may well leak a few goals whilst learning under Postecoglou.
Gary Neville not entirely convinced by Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven
There were a few moments, especially in the first half, which will have concerned Postecoglou a little.
Spurs lost the ball in their own half a few times and there were a couple of occasions when Marcus Rashford caused problems.
One moment in the first half really concerned pundit Gary Neville, who was on co-commentary duty with Sky Sports.
Neville watched as Rashford made a darting run into Van de Ven’s channel but Tottenham just about nullified the threat.
Neville noted that Tottenham were not only high but also very flat defensively, meaning that those Rashford runs were causing problems for Van de Ven on a few occasions.
The former Manchester United ace believes that Van de Ven may need to just drop a yard or two in order to help with those runs – or else he could be in bother.
“They’re so high and flat, that Spurs back four and Van de Ven, a few times, has been caught in that channel by Marcus Rashford,” said Neville. “He’s got to give himself a yard, or else he will have some pain,” he added.
Van de Ven is very fast for a 6ft 4in centre back but players like Rashford can still cause major problems.
That’s something Tottenham and Postecoglou must be wary of in certain games moving forward as other speedy attackers may look to make similar runs.
The Dutchman looked solid for most of Saturday’s game and certainly looked more at home in the second half, hopefully a sign that he is adjusting to life in the Premier League.
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