Micky Van de Ven strongly disagrees with the FA’s decision to charge Tottenham on the back of the Mohammed Kudus red card incident in the London Derby.
Big altercation between Spurs and West Ham players
While the game was generally played in good spirits, all hell broke loose in the dying stage of the game after Micky van de Ven went in on a challenge on Kudus.
The Dutchman won the ball but was not happy that Kudus decided to have a cynical kick at him in the follow-through.
What followed was some pushing and shoving from both sets of players, with the Ghanian eventually being sent off thanks to the intervention of VAR. Replays showed that he had raised his hand to hit both Van de Ven and Pape Sarr in the face.
Micky van de Ven explains what happened
On Wednesday, the FA announced that Spurs have been charged with “failing to ensure their players didn’t behave in an improper and or/provocative way” and fined £20,000 for their part in the incident.
However, Van de Ven confessed that he viewed the situation very differently from the FA.
When asked about the incident, the Tottenham defender said (via Football.London): “What I can remember is that I had a duel with Kudus and I fell down on the ground and I had the feeling that he kicked too much through on the ball.
“He tried to kick the ball, but hit me twice, three times. I was obviously a bit mad in this situation and I stood up and I pushed him and then the situation happened from his side.
“He literally punched me in the face as I went down! To be honest, I don’t know what happened afterwards, I didn’t really see what happened afterwards, but that is the situation. The FA said we need to get fined for this. It is not how I think about it. If I think about it, it would be a different situation.”
What else can the Spurs players have done?
When one looks at the replay of the incident, it is clear that Spurs players behaved with restraint even though Kudus struck two of them in the face.
The West Ham man had completely lost his head and the Tottenham stars were not doing anything more than protecting their teammates.
Van de Ven did shove Kudus after the 24-year-old’s initial kicks, but the Dutchman already got a yellow for his troubles.