No member of the Tottenham Hotspur squad came out of the Newcastle United game smelling of roses, but James Maddison and Micky van de Ven have been singled out by Garth Crooks in his regular column for the BBC this week.
Tottenham never even got going on Saturday afternoon, and were well and truly humbled by Newcastle at St James’ Park in a 4-0 defeat.
The result saw the Lilywhites slip down the Premier League table and give up their spot in the top four, with Aston Villa leapfrogging them after a win over Arsenal on Sunday.
Maddison and Van de Ven slated for latest display
Micky van de Ven has been faultless all season for Spurs, but the Dutchman slipped twice within the space of two minutes to gift Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon goals in the first half.
But, it’s not just the Spurs defender who came in for some flak from Garth Crooks this weekend, with playmaker James Maddison also attracting a fair degree of criticism in the journalist’s team of the week discussions.
When praising Isak for his role in the win, Crooks looked at the main culprits for Spurs and wrote: “The normally impressive Micky van de Ven looked like he was playing on skis, while James Maddison seemed to go through the entire match as if the scoreline didn’t matter, oblivious of the fact that his team were fighting for a Champions League spot, and getting hammered.”
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Spurs Web Opinion
I’m not all that concerned about Micky van de Ven’s performance as that was basically just two freak mistakes that haven’t happened before and shouldn’t happen again.
Maddison, on the other hand, has been off the pace lately and we are really missing his magic. Hopefully, he can recapture that early-season form soon.
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