Micky van de Ven explains what Ange Postecoglou said at half-time in North London Derby defeat

Micky van de Ven has explained what Ange Postecoglou said to the Tottenham players at half-time with the side 3-0 down against Arsenal on Sunday.

Spurs controlled much of the first half of the North London Derby with 72% possession but manage to hand the visitors three goals before fighting back with two in the second half through Cristian Romero and captain Son Heung-min but they could not find a late leveller.

Van de Ven explained after the match what Postecoglou told his players at the interval after they walked down the tunnel to boos from the crowd inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

«The first half was not good enough. Arsenal sat back deep, but when they countered they were ruthless, they scored almost every chance they had,» he said.

«I think that was missing from our first half in our group. What the gaffer said at half-time was just to keep playing our way, you see Arsenal they are sitting back, the chances will come and we will see what’s going to happen in the next half, but just keep working hard, run as hard as you can and if you can’t run anymore then you go off. But we have to run, we have to work hard and do it in the second half and I think that’s what we did.»

The Dutchman added: «The first half was not good from us, 3-0 it can’t happen in your own stadium in a big game like this and I think the second half we played really well, we pressed up high and we controlled the game but in the end it was not enough.»

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