Roberto De Zerbi has explained that he was managing Micky van de Ven’s minutes when he left the defender out of the starting XI against Manchester United. Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi formed the central pairing, with Archie Gray and Destiny Udogie at full-back. Van de Ven came on for Udogie after Bryan Mbeumo’s opener.
The Dutchman had played in all four of the Netherlands’ games during the international break, against Germany, Serbia away, Greece and Serbia at home, and was taken off injured in one of them. He also conceded in the match where Xavi took charge for the first time. After missing Spurs’ opening game with Brentford, Van de Ven had played every Premier League match before the trip to Old Trafford.
Speaking to Sky Sports before kick-off, De Zerbi pointed out that Van de Ven had started four games during the break and said the squad was strong enough to rotate. When Van de Ven arrived in the 73rd minute, Spurs were already down to ten men, but he still helped them recover, and Dominic Solanke headed in the equaliser.
De Zerbi made six changes for the draw, including a start for Lucas Bergvall. It was the Swede’s first league start since the opening-day defeat to Brentford, in which he lasted 45 minutes. He had played 33 minutes in the matches since, but the manager was happy to use him for 66 minutes on Saturday. De Zerbi said Bergvall had performed well whenever he had played this season and described him as a good player despite his youth.
Solanke was one of the few players to keep his place after the international break, and he repaid the manager with his first goal of the season, even though he missed several other chances. He told the BBC that the result didn’t feel like a win, as Spurs had dominated the first half and should have gone two goals ahead.
He added that the way the team responded in the second half, a man down and having already been behind, showed their character and mentality. Solanke felt he could have scored three on the day, but he was glad to have got one.
Two lines in the original (Van de Ven going off injured, and a clean sheet in Xavi’s first match in charge) read oddly, so double-check them against the source before publishing.
