‘Out of this world’ – James Maddison admits he’s in awe of Spurs team-mate’s ability

James Maddison was full of praise for his Tottenham Hotspur team-mate Micky van de Ven prior to yesterday’s match against Aston Villa.

Both players were named in Ange Postecoglou’s starting eleven for the 4-0 win against Aston Villa, a result which could prove to be significant in the race for a Premier League top four finish and securing Champions League qualification.

Van de Ven was arguably Tottenham’s best performer in the opening half of the match at Villa Park, having once again shown his raw pace to help bail Cristian Romero out of trouble after Ollie Watkins had beaten the Argentine to a header to race in behind.

Tottenham wait for news on van de Ven’s hamstring injury

Frustratingly for the Dutchman, he suffered another hamstring issue and was forced off in the 49th minute to be replaced by January signing Radu Dragusin.

James Maddison is a fan of Micky van de Ven

Thankfully, van de Ven’s departure did not prove costly with Dragusin stepping up to the mark at the back and Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Heung-min Son and Timo Werner all on target.

Ahead of the fixture, Maddison was asked about van de Ven in a joint interview with the Tottenham first-team pair and admitted he could see why Ange Postecoglou wanted to sign him this summer.

He told Sky Sports‘ YouTube channel: “It’s no surprise to me that the gaffer really wanted him in the summer. Just because of now we know how Ange wants to play and we are learning his system more and more. I can see why he wanted Micky, just because we do play an aggressive line.

“His pace is frightening really, like you see some of the recovery runs against Palace, it’s just out of this world at times. The sheer pace and physicality he has, and to go with that a ball playing centre-half, they’re hard to find and normally expensive. He’s just another level in terms of pace and power.”

SpursWeb Opinion

Van de Ven’s pace has helped Ange Postecoglou with his risk-taking style of football with the former Wolfsburg defender able to make up ground quickly to snuff out any balls played in behind the back four.

At first glance, it looked as if his hamstring injury was not as serious as the one he suffered earlier this season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against Chelsea.

One shred of consolation was how adept Radu Dragusin looked at the back, especially when asked to turn to face his own goal when Villa tried to play in behind.

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