‘The players don’t like it and don’t want to do it’ – Matt Le Tissier reacts to incendiary Tottenham footage
Djed Spence and Micky Van de Ven ignoring and remonstrating with Thomas Frank after Tottenham’s defeat to Chelsea is not an indicator of unrest within their squad.
That is according to Premier League legend Matt Le Tissier, who has exclusively told Football Insider that he feels the incident will be brushed aside and forgotten soon as the Tottenham players were bound to be annoyed after a tough loss.
Tottenham and Chelsea played out the latest installation of their fierce rivalry in North London on Saturday (1 November) with both sides in need of a win to keep pace with the top five.
Joao Pedro netted the winner just after the half-hour mark as he easily finished past Guglielmo Vicario after Moises Caicedo had pounced on a Micky Van de Ven mistake.
The hosts put in one of their worst performances of the season so far, and their disappointment was highlighted with an incident after the final whistle that saw Djed Spence and Van de Ven ignore Thomas Frank‘s request to go around the pitch clapping the fans.
Spence and Van de Ven ignore Thomas Frank and later apologise
Neither player had a good game, with Van de Ven arguably at fault for Chelsea’s winner as Tottenham dropped into sixth place after the weekend’s round of games.
In a video that did the rounds on social media, Spence could be seen complaining to Frank as he walked off the pitch, while the Dutch centre-back ignored his manager altogether.
Frank, who had seemingly gestured for them both to walk around the pitch and clap the fans, then stood motionless staring back at the pair for five seconds as they trudged away, in a clear sign of discontent.
The Spurs boss insisted that everything had been cleared up in a press conference on Monday (3 November), saying: “Micky and Djed came into my office yesterday and just said they wanted to say sorry for the situation.
“They didn’t want it to look bad or any misconception that you can get in this beautiful media world.
“So there was no disrespect meant at all towards me or the team. They were just frustrated with the performance from us and the booing during the game.”
Le Tissier drops verdict on Tottenham dressing room mutiny
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former England and Southampton striker Le Tissier insisted that the issue surrounding Spence and Van de Ven is not indicative of more unrest within the Spurs squad, and the players will have simply wanted to get off the pitch quickly after losing.
He said: “I’m not sure that’s (the Spence and Van de Ven situation) a massive indicator (of unrest), to be honest. I think obviously Thomas Frank wanted the players to go and applaud the fans. It’s really hard when you’ve suffered a defeat, you’re low anyway.
“And you really just want to get off the pitch, you don’t want to hang around. And yeah, if you’ve suffered a home defeat, it’s not going to be a great reception when you go and clap the fans.
“I can see why the players were not keen to go and do it. But I think it’s small, I don’t think it really smacks of anything much larger in the change room, to be honest with you.
“I think it’s just one of the things that Thomas Frank likes his players to do. The players don’t like it and don’t want to do it. You know, it’s not really a massive deal, I don’t think.“