Micky van de Ven was completely devastated after Tottenham Hotspur defeat to Sunderland. The Netherlands international did not think his team played badly, but saw that everything went against them once again.
Van de Ven tries to keep belief alive as Tottenham slide deeper into danger after Sunderland defeat
Tottenham left the Stadium of Light with more questions than answers after another damaging defeat, and the emotion on the faces of their players said almost everything about the scale of the crisis.
Tottenham defeat away to Sunderland felt like much more than another bad afternoon in a miserable season. It felt like a club staring directly at its own decline, with the pressure rising every week and confidence draining from a squad that once looked capable of competing near the top of the Premier League. A one nil loss might sound narrow on paper, but the mood around Spurs at full time suggested a team carrying a far heavier burden than the scoreline alone can explain.
Micky van de Ven was one of the clearest symbols of that pain. The defender tried to hold on to some belief after the final whistle, insisting that Tottenham had not played badly and arguing that the game had once again turned on small details that went against them. From his point of view, Spurs did not allow many clear chances and were punished by an unlucky goal. Even so, his words did not sound like those of a player truly convinced a turnaround is close. They sounded more like the words of someone searching for reasons to keep going in a season that has become emotionally exhausting.
There was visible frustration in his reaction, and perhaps even more telling was the sense of emptiness around him. Tottenham players are no longer reacting like a team suffering from a temporary dip in form. They are reacting like a team that has spent months waiting for a change in fortune that never arrives. Van de Ven admitted that the moment is extremely difficult and there was little in his tone to suggest this was just another passing setback. The feeling was that of a dressing room running out of explanations.
The situation became even more painful when Cristian Romero was forced off in tears after a chaotic incident that saw him collide with his own goalkeeper following contact in the box. That moment summed up the disorder that seems to follow Tottenham everywhere right now. Nothing appears simple, nothing appears calm, and even routine defensive situations quickly become sources of damage. For a side fighting to stay above the bottom three, those moments are devastating, because they do not merely cost points. They also strip away belief.
Van de Ven pointed to several details that, in his view, reflected Tottenham bad luck once again. He mentioned the deflected nature of the goal and the feeling that a penalty decision could have gone in their favour. He also made it clear that concern over Romero injury added another layer of anxiety to an already fragile squad. In isolation, each complaint may sound small. Together, they describe a team that feels trapped in a cycle where every game brings a new setback, every promising spell ends with punishment, and every missed opportunity deepens the sense of collapse.
There is still some faith internally in the methods of Roberto De Zerbi. Van de Ven was keen to stress that training has been good and that the work on the pitch during the week remains serious. That matters, because it suggests the squad has not completely stopped responding. But good training sessions mean very little when match days keep producing the same outcome. At this stage of the campaign, effort alone is not enough. Tottenham need points, composure, and above all a sign that they can handle pressure when it matters most. Right now, that sign is nowhere to be seen.
The reaction in the English media was brutal, but not surprising. The BBC described the loss as another deeply troubling chapter in the story of a major club losing its stature. That language may sound dramatic, yet it reflects what many are seeing with their own eyes. Tottenham are no longer being discussed as a sleeping giant that will inevitably recover. They are being discussed as a side that genuinely looks vulnerable, limited, and incapable of stopping the slide. The old argument that a club of this size is simply too strong to go down has lost almost all meaning.
That is largely because the numbers are impossible to ignore. Fourteen Premier League matches without a win is not a random slump. It is a trend, and in a relegation battle trends matter more than reputation. Tottenham are not just failing to win. They are developing the habits of a team that gets dragged under. They concede at the wrong time, they struggle to score, they lose control in midfield, and they do not project authority in either box. When those weaknesses keep appearing week after week, the table starts to tell the truth.
Other English outlets were equally severe in their assessment. The Telegraph painted a picture of a side with problems in every critical area. Tottenham do not keep clean sheets often enough, do not carry enough threat going forward, and too often get bypassed in midfield with alarming ease. That combination is exactly what pulls teams into serious trouble at the end of a season. You do not need to be conceding four or five every week to be in danger. Sometimes being soft, passive, and inefficient is enough to sink a campaign.
What makes the situation even more alarming is that Spurs are no longer being judged against their own ambitions. They are being measured against the teams around them in the survival fight, and even there the comparisons are uncomfortable. Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and West Ham United may all have flaws of their own, but they are at least showing more life, more momentum, and more capacity to scrap for results. Tottenham, by contrast, look like a team waiting for someone else to rescue them.
Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports that Tottenham are playing like a side heading for relegation, and that comment captured the growing consensus around the club. On paper, some of the remaining fixtures may look manageable. In reality, Tottenham have become the sort of opponent other struggling teams want to face. There is no fear factor, no sense that Spurs will overpower anyone, and no guarantee that they can even produce the basics required in a survival battle. Carragher point about Wolves was especially damning. A match that once might have looked like a clear chance for Tottenham now feels like the sort of fixture supporters approach with dread.
Jamie O Hara was even more direct, describing the performance as shocking and arguing that too many players contributed almost nothing. His criticism cut to the heart of the issue. Relegation fights are rarely survived on talent alone. They demand intensity, aggression, discipline, and emotional commitment. Tottenham are being accused of lacking all of that. When a team has no rhythm in possession, no protection in midfield, no certainty in defence, and no visible fight in key moments, the alarm bells become impossible to ignore.
That is why Van de Ven words after the game were both admirable and troubling. Admirable because he is still trying to drag some hope out of a desperate situation. Troubling because his message was built more on faith than on evidence. Tottenham can still recover, because in football a single win can change the atmosphere quickly. But they are now at the point where hope must turn into substance. The tears, the frustration, the excuses and the promises mean nothing unless the results finally change.
For a club that spent years living in the upper reaches of the Premier League, this is a brutal fall. And unless Spurs find resilience very soon, Sunderland may be remembered not just as another defeat, but as the day the fear of relegation stopped being a dramatic headline and became a very real possibility.
