Micky van de Ven

Micky van de Ven



Current Club: Tottenham Hotspur.

Previous Clubs: VfL Wolfsburg, FC Volendam.

Loan Clubs: N/A.





International: Netherlands 10 caps.

Trophies Won: N/A.





The first thing you notice about van de Ven is his pace, he is blisteringly quick, quite possible the fastest centre-back ever to play in the Premier League. He is also strong, good in the air and very good on the ball. Despite these qualities, van de Ven is not actually that good a defender.



Even if you ignore that his pace seems to come at the cost of hamstrings made of soft cheese, his pace is still as much of a weakness as it is a strength. Because he is so quick, van de Ven relies on his pace totally and has not developed positional sense or defensive awareness. He always expects his pace to bail him out of any difficulty he gets in.



That makes for a player who looks great on highlight packages, but it does not make for a great defender. It is not just that it gives the opposition a chance, it is also that he struggles to control himself when sprinting. I doubt anyone who saw it will forget that time when he was sold a dummy and went flying past a forward, unable to stop in time to make any kind of meaningful attempt to stop him.



It is also clear that his lack of positional sense is playing a part in his injuries as well. It causes van de Ven to make more sprints, which is a high stress moment for those soft hamstrings, as well as forcing him to make more lunging tackles, which make him stretch them. He needs to learn to position himself properly and look to save himself from having to make sprints, if possible.



He needs to evolve his game and work on developing a defensive awareness and understanding of the game, that will make a huge difference to his future. Right now, he is simply going to rely on his pace, until the constant injuries it causes wear him down.



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