Hartman is Co-leader in assist in the EPL with Grealish. That really speaks volumes about him, and he’s still only 23 years old. He’s definitely one to watch for that LB spot.
Van de Ven scored two wonderful header goals from corner kicks. Also completed the most passes (90% accuracy). Picked as MoTM.
Van de Ven scored an outrageous goal today… picked up the ball from the edge of his own penalty box, dribbled the ball forward with pace almost the entire field before tucked the ball into the net This has got to be a strong candidate for goal of this week’s matchdays!
148089 Stunning unseen footage shows how Tottenham Hotspur players reacted to Micky van de Ven's wondergoal Talksport 7 hours ago Micky van de Ven scored a Puskas Award contender in Tottenham Hotspur's 4-0 win over Copenhagen - leaving fans and teammates in disbelief. The Spurs centre-back ran the length of the Tottenham keen to reward Micky van de Ven with new deal The Telegraph 29 minutes ago Spurs regard the Dutchman's centre-back partnership with Cristian Romero as one of the best in the Premier League How pundits reacted to Van de Ven's stunning goal BBC 8 hours ago With Tottenham leading 2-0 but down to 10 men and coming under pressure from opponents Copenhagen, Micky van de Ven could have been forgiven for launching the ball to safety when he got it on the edge of his own penalty area. But the Netherlands defender had other ideas. Van de Ven scores wonder solo goal as Spurs hit four BBC 19 hours ago Ten-man Tottenham produce a dream Champions League performance, including a wonder goal from centre-half Micky van de Ven, as they thrash Copenhagen to maintain their unbeaten start in the competition.
148110 Oh dear, 29' Qarabag-Chelsea 1-1! There is the equalizer from Qarabag! What a dramatic performance by Jorrel Hato in the first half hour. 39' Qarabag-Chelsea 2-1! What a horror night for Jorrel Hato. After he made a mistake at the 1-1 goal, he also made hands not much later, causing the former Ajax player a penalty. Marko Jankovic stays cool from eleven meters and puts the Azerbaijanis ahead against world champion Chelsea!
Rating by the Sun: Jorrel Hato – 4 Shaky in the first half and was lucky not to have given away a penalty in the 13th minute. Should’ve cut out the ball in the build-up to Qarabag’s equaliser from Leandro Andrade. Things went from bad to worse for him in the 32nd minute when he was harshly adjudged to have handled a cross and had a penalty given against him.
148221 Dies Janse (19) and Thijmen Blokzijl (20) are the youngest central defensive duo in the Eredivisie at FC Groningen, but generally offer the security of two veterans. For Dick Lukkien, it is the next confirmation that experience is not the be-all and end-all. Never fall in love with a loan player, is a well-known saying from English football supporter culture. Many fans of FC Groningen will probably have heard it too, but it is made quite difficult for them to actually follow this advice. In January of this year, Hjalmar Ekdal and Dave Kwakman joined the team with great success and now loan players Younes Taha (from FC Twente) and Dies Janse (from Ajax) have once again turned out to be bull's eye for The Pride of the North. The attacking midfielder and central defender are fielded weekly by Dick Lukkien and with their qualities have an undeniable share in the successful season that FC Groningen has experienced so far. Where Taha provides creativity up front, Janse's most important task is to keep it closed at the back. And that succeeds, except for a totally unsuccessful cup evening at plague spirit Sparta Rotterdam (5-2), quite well: FC Groningen has the fewest goals against in the Eredivisie after Feyenoord and AZ. Four of the fifteen goals against so far were scored by the green-whites in the 4-2 loss at PSV, which meant Janse's debut for his temporary club. The teenager immediately left a good first impression in Eindhoven and has not disappeared from the team. Together with fellow talent Thijmen Blokzijl, Janse forms a reliable defensive duo, which stands like a sturdy farmhouse.
148403 I wrote a few posts ago about scoring Dutch defenders. Well, Bayern met one of them Rotterdam defender Danilho Doekhi ends Bayern Munich's winning streak with two goals
149657 Virgil is playing lousy for weeks now. Liverpool poison cup not yet empty: Van Dijk schlemiel in new damage National champion Liverpool has not been able to shake off Sunderland, the number four of the Championship last season. Virgil van Dijk - who defended Brian Brobbey for the first hour of the match - played an unfortunate role at Anfield. New disaster came fired at Liverpool when Chemsdine Taibi opened the score in the 67th minute. Sloppy defending by Van Dijk was the introduction to the goal - which, to make matters worse, also touched the back of the Orange captain.
I hope Virgil save his best for the World Cup. I agree that so far he is not good this year. Van Hecke is playing well in my opinion. Time to plan for De Ligt Van Hecke (or Van De Ven) after the World Cup.
Not sure what Koeman's plan is but at their clubs van de Ven is playing as LCB, Timber as RB, Geertruida (RCB), Koopmeiners (LCB) and Schouten (CB) are playing as 1 of 3 backs in 3-4-3 recently. Koeman likes versatility (see Daley Blind) so he may take all 5 of them likely to the WC .
150848 Jorrel Hato is in a no man's land Jorrel Hato has become a player who is judged after a cup match against a club from League One, England's third level. It is astonishing how quickly the decline of a talent can sometimes go. 'Decline' may be a bit strong - Hato is still a great talent - but his first year at Chelsea can have quite a few unpleasant consequences. The World Cup, for example, will pass him by if he stays on the bench. Hato joins the long line of players who are thrown back in their development by a bad choice. In short, it comes down to this: he is not yet reliable enough for the defense of an English top club. That in itself is not a shame, but it is something that could have been estimated in advance. There are conflicting interests at play. Chelsea has several young, similar Hato's in the house (although they have different names) and can wait and see who presents themselves first. In addition, there is the French Strasbourg, where players can go who need an intermediate step or need to be put in the shop window. In short: for Chelsea, Hato is above all a project and a product.
Van der Ven got plenty of heat (from fellow Dutchman Slot, no less) after his robust challenge on Isaak (who will now be out for 2 month after a surgery…) Imagine if Sweden qualifies for the WC, Isak recovers in time, and the two meet again in the group qualifying match Liverpool boss Arne Slot said on Tuesday that Van de Ven's 'reckless' lunge on Isak was always likely to injure his opponent. "It was a reckless challenge. I've said a lot about the tackle of Xavi Simons, which for me was completely unintentional. I don't think you will ever get an injury out of a tackle like that," he bemoaned. "But the tackle of Van de Ven, if you make a tackle like that 10 times, 10 times there is a serious chance the player gets a serious injury." link: https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...-reckless-tackle-alexander-isak-fractured-leg
Instability has become normal at several clubs and with the crazy spending the chaos never ends. If I was to speculate De Ligt should be happy that Amorim is gone because the crazy 3-4-2-1 system of play did not suit most of the team. De Ligt who has been very good this season prior to his current injury (Back) is most comfortable playing in a 4 man Defense.
152063 Agbonlahor, former striker of Aston Villa and three-time English international, advises Van de Ven to make a move. 'I feel sorry for him. He deserves to play at a bigger club,' he said in a podcast of Talksport. 'He will not stay at Spurs. Don't sign a new contract there, Van de Ven. You deserve better than Spurs.'
Wouter Goes candid: 'I'm working with a psychologist and that helps a lot' Wouter Goes has called in a psychologist to change his much-discussed behavior on the field. The 21-year-old AZ central defender has come to the conclusion that he needs to channel the aggression in his game better. 'I had been looking for ways in which I could change this aspect of my game for a while,' Goes told Voetbal International. 'It had to be calmer in my head.' The conversations are starting to have their effect, as evidenced by his more controlled acting lately. 'I think progress can be seen quickly,' he notes. 'I'm working with a psychologist and that helps a lot. At the right moments, the poison in my game has to come out and at other times it doesn't.' Goes hopes to maintain that balance during the rest of the season. 'I now realize that there are different ways to come out on top of the duels. It benefits my game, that it is now calmer in my head. I think the match against Ajax this week was a good example. I will take this with me. This way I have to do it much more often. In the second half of the season, I want to show who I really am.'
3 - Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is the first central defender ever to assist three goals in a single UEFA Champions League game. Source. pic.twitter.com/RoZ6DJmrfM— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 28, 2026
Mats Rots, Twente’s LB, is having a breakout season… 4 goals and 3 assists already. Part of the Oranje u19 championship team, and regular in u21. With Koeman lacking options on the LB position (Ake and Maatsen benched, Hartman and Hato disappeared), wonder if Rots could sneak into the Oranje NT selection next month…