Micah Richards has sympathised with Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven after he suffered another injury blow.
The Dutch defender was named in Ange Postecoglou’s starting line up for Tottenham’s crucial fixture against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Van de Ven put in an assured performance in the first half of the clash at Villa Park, showcasing his electric pace on more than one occasion to deny Ollie Watkins who had raced in behind Cristian Romero.
Frustratingly, the Netherlands international suffered another issue with his hamstring and was forced off just minutes into the second half to be replaced by January signing Radu Dragusin.
The 22-year-old suffered a long spell on the sidelines back in November when he snapped his hamstring in the defeat to Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, only returning to action for the Premier League fixture at Manchester United on January 14th (transfermarkt).
Richards, who had his fair share of injury issues during his career at both Manchester City and Aston Villa admitted it was sad to see van de Ven having to be withdrawn during Tottenham’s 4-0 win over Villa on Sunday.
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Micky van de Ven’s hamstring injury is a blow for Tottenham
He told The Rest Is Football podcast: “It was sad to see van de Ven go off the pitch though. I mean, when you talk about tactics and how they want to play, we’ve given Ange Postecoglou so much credit haven’t we?
“They play so high, it was Danny Murphy who was doing Match of the Day yesterday and he did a really good piece on how brave the centre-backs were and what was good, they push really high up and go man for man at the back against Bailey and Watkins.
“But that leads into a race constantly, so Villa tried to get the ball quickly forward and Van de Ven’s constantly having to sprint back. He’s got big numbers, one of the fastest players in the Premier League, but then now he’s going to be out if he’s tweaked his hamstring again.
“So, they play great football, front-footed football, entertaining stuff we all want to see. But for the centre-halves, it’s hard work.”
SpursWeb Opinion
Van de Ven’s pace has been such a key aspect of how Ange Postecoglou sets out his team to take risks further up the pitch and rely on the pace of the defender to try to clear up any breaks from the opposition in behind.
Hopefully, this hamstring issue is not as serious as the one he suffered last year and it back in action in a matter of weeks.
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