Ange Postecoglou has admitted that he took a gamble by starting Micky van de Ven against Brentford and praised the Dutchman for passing the test with flying colours.
The Postecoglou era started in encouraging fashion, with the Lilywhites playing out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Gtech Community Stadium, which has been a notoriously difficult place for clubs to visit over recent years.
There was a lot to like about the away side’s second-half performance, in particular, as they completely controlled proceedings, with the Bees putting ten men behind the ball to starve the Tottenham players of any space or time in the final third.
Spurs will perhaps look back on the goals they conceded in the first half as avoidable but Postecoglou pointed out that three members of the defensive unit, including goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, were making their debuts in the Premier League.
The Australian admitted that he took a bit of risk by throwing Van de Ven into the deep end despite the Dutchman only having a couple of training sessions with the team.
Postecoglou took a gamble against Brentford
Postecoglou told Football.London: “Obviously we had Micky, Destiny and Vic, three of our back five making their debut for the club and anyone will tell you when it comes to the defensive side of the game, the more understanding you have, the better you are.
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“We obviously took a bit of a gamble throwing them all in but I thought all three handled themselves really well. It is not an easy place to come, you get put under pressure with balls coming into the box and I thought they all handled themselves really well.
“Micky has only had three sessions with us so I could have waited to put him in there, but my feeling is he will be a very good footballer for us and the quicker we introduce him to Premier League football the better he will be.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Van de Ven’s performance was arguably the biggest positive from the game yesterday.
It usually takes a while for central defenders to get adjusted to the intensity and the physicality of the Premier League and there are not too many sterner tests in that respect than Brentford away.
However, the Dutchman looked imperious in winning duals as well as in possession. While it is still early days, there are definitely shades of Jan Vertonghen about him.
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