Postecoglou speaks on poor performance from Tottenham defender

There's no question, Tottenham looked weak in every area of the pitch in their 4-0 loss to Newcastle, who now sit sixth in the Premier League table behind Spurs.

While the mistakes were well-dispersed, Tottenham center-back Micky van de Ven has come under particular scrutiny for his blunders, slipping on multiple occasions and getting caught out of position on a devastating counter attack.

Speaking after the match, here's what Ange Postecoglou had to say about the Dutch footballer: "I think that’s just kind of a symptom of the whole collective of it. I don’t think it was one person that was at fault today. It was about us as a collective. We never really got to grips with the game of football. We let it get away from us. And like I said, we paid a price for it" (football.london).

As always, the manager's words seemed to be spot on, evident of his ability to look at the larger picture playing out across a football match.

Although VDV could have, and arguably should have, been better, it's hard to ignore the fact that Tottenham missed a number of chances going forward.

Timo Werner struggled to find his footing, missing the target off of good crosses into the box. Club captain Son Heung-min also looked off his game as he struggled to stay on the ball and find space behind the defense.

In the back as well, VDV wasn't the only one who struggled. Pedro Porro's massive error resulted in an Anthony Gordon goal at the 32nd minute, just after Alexander Isak's first at the 30th.

Cristian Romero also looked largely absent from the fixture, uncharacteristically sinking into the background without displaying his usual aggression and defensive prowess.

Spurs have a few weeks now before their next matchup, a North London Derby against second-place Arsenal. In the meantime, they'll have some questions to answer; and, despite the team-wide struggle, so will Micky van de Ven in particular.