Micky van de Ven blames Tottenham teammates following defeat to Aston Villa

Micky van de Ven has voiced criticism towards his Tottenham teammates, insisting that the attacking players should have done more to create opportunities in their 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday.

Thomas Frank’s side made a dream start at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when Rodrigo Bentancur opened the scoring in the fifth minute, finishing calmly after Joao Palhinha’s header across the box. Spurs had further chances to extend their lead, but Villa equalised eight minutes before half-time through Morgan Rogers, who struck powerfully past Guglielmo Vicario from the edge of the area.

In the second half, substitute Emiliano Buendia sealed the win for Villa, curling an accurate shot into the corner in the 77th minute. Despite Tottenham recording more shots, attempts on target, and clear-cut chances, Van de Ven felt they failed to make the most of their dominance and should have earned at least a point.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Van de Ven said: “I don’t think we did enough. If we had, we wouldn’t have lost this game. We didn’t give much away — both their goals came from outside the box — but we should have created more for ourselves. We always give 100% for the fans and the club.”

Tottenham suffered a setback just before kick-off when Cristian Romero pulled out of the warm-up due to injury, with Kevin Danso stepping in to replace him.

“We knew during the week he was a doubt,” Van de Ven said of Romero. “It’s always disappointing when a player drops out in the warm-up, but I think Kevin [Danso] came in and did really well.”

After the match, Frank provided an update on Romero’s condition, saying: “Minor abductor injury. He felt it a bit over the past few days. We expected him to be fine, but he wasn’t. I don’t think it’s too serious.”

Reflecting on the result, Frank added: “There were two big teams on the pitch. We started very well, but Villa scored two goals from very little. We had four or five moments where we couldn’t finish them off. If you told me before the game that they’d be shooting from those positions, I’d have said ‘happy days.’”