Micky van de Ven had a nightmare opening 45 minutes for Tottenham against Newcastle today and Rio Ferdinand has claimed he knows just what the Dutchman did wrong.
Van de Ven was twice left on the deck as Alexander Isak and then Anthony Gordon fired in in quick succession to put Newcastle 2-0 up at half-time.
For Van de Ven, it was a nightmare few minutes and went against everything that had been said about him in the build up.
Rio Ferdinand had lauded the defender with his comments prior to kick off, insisting he had been a Rolls Royce and could go on to become a top world star.
However, Van de Ven’s defending against Newcastle left a lot to be desired.
And speaking on TNT Sports at half-time, Ferdinand highlighted what Van de Ven had done wrong.
Rio Ferdinand highlights what Micky van de Ven did wrong with his defending v Newcastle
Analysing the two opening goals for Newcastle, Ferdinand zoned in on what Van de Ven did with his feet.
And it wasn’t good viewing as Ferdinand looked at the Dutchman’s defending, with the former Man United highlighting why Van de Ven’s speed actually caused him a problem this time.
“Listen, we’ve spoke about how good he’s been this season but he’s had a 45 minutes to forget here. You’ve got to slow your feet down as a defender. If you can’t slow your feet down then you can’t change direction, this happens here. Not able to change direction because he’s come over too quick,” Ferdinand said.
“It looks worse and worse for Van de Ven every time you see it. You have to slow down in that one v one situation. Then it’s the same situation again here (for the second goal) and he doesn’t slow his feet down. He comes across too quick and doesn’t slow his feet down and when you’ve got players of this quality against you, it’s devastating.”
Van de Ven has been one of the signings of the season in the main but had a disaster at St James’ Park.
Ultimately, it was just one of those days for a player who has otherwise been excellent all season long.
Van de Ven, though, can learn from this and the comments from Ferdinand do make sense. His pace is a huge asset but as we saw here, it also cost him.
Lessons to be learned, then, for the £34m man.