Isak suffered a broken fibula after a challenge from Van de Ven, as the Dutch centre-back attempted to block the attacker’s goal effort. The former has now undergone surgery and has been on the sidelines for several months.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot was critical of Van de Ven’s challenge on Tuesday. He called the tackle ‘reckless’ and emphasized that there was always a high risk of injury.
Ahead of Tottenham’s match with Crystal Palace on Sunday, Frank defended Van de Ven and insisted there was no malice in the incident.
“So it’s a transition. So he sprints back in. There’s a ball sliding down the side and he’s doing everything he can to see if he can block that shot. So he’s sliding. Unfortunately, Isak plants his foot right there and that makes it look worse than it is. I think that would be a natural reaction for any defender.”
“I’ll put it this way: if my defenders don’t do that, then I don’t think they’re real defenders. So I don’t see that at all. Normally you haven’t seen reckless challenges from Micky. As I remember, he’s a very fair and competitive player.”
“So that’s one thing. The other thing is you also know that the two players have resolved it. They’ve spoken. So that’s a good sign of how they’ve resolved it.”
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