Perhaps I’ve been doing Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven a disservice following Spurs’ 4-1 victory.
I had been under the impression that the 6ft 3in central defender went to ground a little too easily after his altercation with Hammers winger Mohammed Kudus. My memory may be playing tricks on me, as I seem to recall the Dutchman pushing Kudus in the chest before the Ghanaian, with less aggression, pushed him back in the face.
The Spurs centre-back then fell to the ground like a sack of spuds (yeah, I know, sorry), writhing in faux agony, clutching his face in an attempt to make the contact appear more damaging than it actually was.
However, it seems I got it completely wrong, and MVDV was in fact the innocent victim of a brutal attack involving a punch to the face. Presumably, the strike was so quick that it escaped detection by the professional broadcast cameras’ present, but since Micky said it happened, I guess it’s gospel.
Describing the traumatic assault, Van de Ven said: “He tried to kick the ball but hit me twice, three times. I was obviously a bit mad in this situation, and I stood up and pushed him, and then the situation escalated from his side.
“He literally punched me in the face as I went down! To be honest, I don’t know what happened afterward; I didn’t really see what happened.”
Bless him, the tough defender was clearly too concussed to recall what happened next. But perhaps Kudus should just be thankful the convenient amnesia didn’t lead to further embellishments of the story.
Just to add, if somebody could please explain the definition of the word ‘literally’ to VDV in may help in the future.
