Micky van de Ven admits questioning 'extreme' Tottenham tactics after Chelsea loss

Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has revealed talks were held about the team's tactics after November's 4-1 defeat to Chelsea.

Spurs were unbeaten and sitting top of the Premier League when Chelsea arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November 2023, but questions were soon asked about new manager Ange Postecoglou after the crushing 4-1 loss.

Cristian Romero was sent off on the half-hour mark and both James Maddison and Van de Ven limped off injured soon after, and Spurs went down to nine men when Destiny Udogie was dismissed early in the second half.

Despite losing so many key players, Postecoglou remained loyal to his tactics and kept his defensive line high, allowing Chelsea to breeze through with ease. Nicolas Jackson netted a hat-trick in the final 15 minutes to seal a crushing victory for the Blues.

Reflecting on the game to Optus Sport, Van de Ven admitted the approach was perhaps the wrong one given the circumstances but stood firmly in support of Postecoglou's setup.

"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 [Porro], with me, with Cuti [Romero], 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."

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