Tottenham's Micky van de Ven 'speechless' after dropping points against Everton
- Rob Fleming
- 5 February 2024
Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven was so angry after dropping points in the race for the top four he was rendered speechless in the dressing room after the draw with Everton.
Spurs conceded an equaliser to Jarrad Branthwaite's header in the fourth minute of added time as their game at Goodison Park finished 2-2, despite twice being ahead through Richarlison's double which took his tally to nine in his last eight games.
Three points would, at the time, have lifted them level on points with second-placed Manchester City and north London rivals Arsenal but they missed the opportunity and Aston Villa's trouncing of Sheffield United later in the day meant there is now a two-point gap to fourth place.
Asked what he did when he got back to the dressing room, Van de Ven said: "I was just mad, I don't talk. We had a chance to kill the game at the end but we didn't do it. It really hurts.
"Of course with more points we could have put pressure on the top but we didn't do that so that's really disappointing – but next week there is another game to fix it."
Tottenham – particularly goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario – struggled to deal with Everton's set-pieces and that was their downfall.
"We knew Everton were really good at set-pieces and they scored two goals from them so it's not good for us," added Van de Ven.
"We can do better and next time we have to fix it so they don't score.
"It was a physical game. We know they play like more ‘fight' football – long balls, fight, headers, second ball.
"It was a tough game and in the first half we were struggling a bit but in the second half we played quite well."
