Postecoglou gives mixed injury update on Tottenham pair after Chelsea loss | OneFootball

Micky van de Ven comes off injured against Chelsea.

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has revealed that Micky van de Ven suffered a “significant” injury during their 4-1 defeat to Chelsea on Monday.

Spurs had two players sent off in their home match against the Blues as they suffered their first loss of the Premier League season.

The nine men of Tottenham managed to hold out at 1-1 until the 75th minute with Nicolas Jackson scoring a late hat-trick to make the scoreline comfortable.

Amid the chaos Spurs also suffered two injuries with both Van de Ven and James Maddison – who have been two of their best players this season – limping off the pitch towards the end of the first half.

Van de Ven felt his hamstring while racing Chelsea striker Jackson for the ball, while Maddison went down in the box without contact before leaving the pitch.

Giving an update on Maddison’s injury, Postecoglou said: “He got a knock on the ankle, we were down one man already. It made sense to make a couple of changes at that point.”

But the news did not sound so positive for Van de Ven, the Tottenham boss added: “It’s too early. With Micky it’s a pretty significant one.”

In stark contrast to Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta – who decided to label a VAR decision over the weekend a “disgrace” – Postecoglou took a calmer approach in his post-match interview.

The Tottenham boss insisted that managers can’t continue to “complain about bad decisions every week” and that they must start to “accept the referee’s decision”.

“Decisions are decisions: you either accept it or you don’t,” Postecoglou told Sky Sports.

“Some of it is self-inflicted (but) if we are going to go out and complain about bad decisions every week what will happen is what happened today: a forensic study of every decision.

“I think that’s the way the game is going. I don’t like it – I could be a lone voice as I’m told that’s the way forward. With VAR intervention it just felt like a lot of standing around.

“At some point we have to accept the referee’s decision. This constant erosion of referees’ authority, this is what the game is going to get: they will not have any authority, it is going to get diminished and we are going to be in the control of someone a few miles away watching a TV screen.”