Micky van de Ven declares ‘something wrong’ with Liverpool goal after chat with Tottenham star

Nine-man Tottenham fell short against Liverpool on Saturday evening but Micky van de Ven does not think Hugo Ekitike’s winner should have stood

Micky van de Ven claims Tottenham must now tap into the fighting spirit they displayed against Liverpool.

While Spurs have now lost 11 top-flight home games in a calendar year for the first time ever in the Premier League era, they pushed the champions to the wire – even with nine men.

Van de Ven said: “I think it was really intense today. It was tough as well and obviously when you come with 10 men and you play against Liverpool, you know it’s going to be really tough.

“But I think we did well and we fought until the last minute. Even when we were 2-0 down, we kept pushing so big respect to us all as a team. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a point today.”

Van de Ven crunched Liverpool £125million striker Alexander Isak, who could not continue, as the Swede hit the opener.

READ MORE: Xavi Simons’ Tottenham apology after Virgil van Dijk red card tackleREAD MORE: Thomas Frank’s unexpected Arne Slot chat in a corridor after defeat and what Romero told Bergvall

The Dutchman felt aggrieved that the visitors’ second goal was not chalked off, however, for a foul on Cristian Romero.

The 24-year-old continued: “I know Cuti is a strong defender so I know he’s not going to go down easy. I haven’t seen it back so I can’t really say anything.

“But if Cuti is this convinced that he’s getting pushed then probably there should be something wrong with it.

“I haven’t seen most things back, including Xavi’s [Simons] red card. For [Hugo] Ekitike’s goal there are some question marks for everyone.”

Spurs pushed to level the scores after Richarlison had restored parity. Tottenham’s task was made even more difficult though by Romero’s stoppage-time red which now means he’s suspended for the trip to Crystal Palace.

Simons will be slapped with a three-match ban and will also miss matches against Brentford and Sunderland.

Still, Van de Ven remains proud of the valiant effort. He concluded: “I think there’s a lot of emotions going through my head right now.

“I’m proud of the team, unfortunately, of course, I’m gutted, I’m disappointed. I’m also angry about how some things were going in the game.

“But yeah, we get nothing changed about it anymore. And that’s it. I think today was a good performance from our side.

“Even when we were 11v11, we played a really good game and we pushed Liverpool backwards. So there are many positive things we can take into the next match.”

Thomas Frank’s side are now in 13th position in the Premier League table.