Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven believes that the tactics against Chelsea back in November may have been ‘too extreme’.
Ange Postecoglou has enjoyed a positive first season at Tottenham Hotspur, but it could get even better.
Champions League qualification would be a huge step for Spurs, especially less than a year into the ‘Angeball’ era.
The Australian has brought positive, attacking football back to Tottenham and one aspect of that is a high line.
Postecoglou has been trusting the pace of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven as his centre back pairing, allowing Spurs to push higher up the pitch.
One game sticks in the mind though – and Postecoglou took that approach even further without Romero or Van de Ven on the pitch…
Micky van de Ven on Tottenham approach v Chelsea
The game in question was Chelsea at home back in November.
Romero was sent off and Van de Ven picked up a hamstring injury, meaning Tottenham lost both of their star defenders in one fell swoop.
Yet when down to 10 men – and then nine once Destiny Udogie had been sent off too – Tottenham kept an incredibly high line.
It was almost comical at times with Tottenham stationed near the halfway line as deep runs from Chelsea broke through time and time again.
Tottenham ended up losing 4-1 and many questioned why Postecoglou played such a daring approach with nine men.
Postecoglou took the stance that he was better off sticking to his principles rather than sitting back and almost waiting to get beat.
That divided opinion and defender Van de Ven – who had to watch on as Tottenham lost the game – has offered his view.
Speaking to Optus Sport, Van de Ven noted that the approach against Chelsea was possibly ‘too extreme’ and there were discussions about that tactic after the game.
Van de Ven wouldn’t disclose what was discussed, but we can imagine Tottenham’s defenders were possibly suggesting to drop back a yard or two in a similar situation moving forward.
That isn’t a criticism either; Postecoglou was still learning about his squad at that point and having an open back and forth with players can certainly help build a positive environment, especially if players feel heard and acknowledged.
The Dutchman added that fans get worried about the high line but Spurs teammates Destiny Udogie, Pedro Porro and ‘Cuti’ Romero are so quick that the situation can be recovered.
Van de Ven seems to enjoy playing in a high line, taking pride in holding a strong line to catch opposition forwards offside.
“We know what to do so, for us, it’s normal,” said Van de Ven. “Of course, when we played against Chelsea, maybe it was a bit too extreme and we spoke about it also with the defensive line after the game.”
“But yeah, for us it’s normal and people are shaking a bit because of the high line, because we play with so many spaces at the back but I think with Destiny, with Pedro, with me, with Cuti, we also have the pace to recover it and yeah, it’s playing with risk, but most of the time the players run offside and we know it’s offside because we know our strong line.”
“The linesmen, they don’t put their flag in the air, everybody is shaking and they’re like ‘oh they don’t have the control’, but we know it’s offside, so we know we have control of the attackers,” he added.
It’s unlikely we will see Tottenham’s approach from that Chelsea game again, but Postecoglou will continue to play a high line and rely on the pace of his defenders to make it work.
Maybe that will get Tottenham in trouble at times, but it also allows Spurs to play further up the pitch and attempt to impact the game in the final third, as we have seen many times this season.
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