Thomas Frank Hits Back at Arne Slot’s ‘Reckless’ Micky Van de Ven Criticism

Thomas Frank vehemently disagreed with Arne Slot’s assessment that Micky van de Ven had been “reckless” with the tackle that broke the leg of Liverpool striker Alexander Isak.

Isak scored his third goal in Liverpool colours to grease the wheels for a vital 2–1 win for the Premier League champions, but his moment of elation came at a cost. As the Swede struck the ball with his left foot past Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, Van de Ven came lunging in from the side in an attempt to block the effort.

Unfortunately, the tangle of legs saw Isak fracture his fibula—an injury that has seen him quickly undergo surgery and will sideline the £125 million ($169 million) British transfer record signing for at least the next couple of months.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Wolves, Slot pointed the finger at his fellow countryman Van de Ven, stating “if you make a tackle like that 10 times, 10 times there is a serious chance the player gets a serious injury.”

Frank: Impossible to Question Van de Ven Doing His Job

Thomas Frank stood by his defender. | Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

That assessment did not sit well with Frank. “I am obviously disagreeing in many ways,” the Premier League’s best-dressed manager, in the opinion of Sports Illustrated, said. “We are talking about a defender that will do everything he can to avoid the goal. It is a transition. There is a ball down the side and he is doing everything he can to block the shot, so he is sliding.

Frank even questioned whether Van de Ven would be a proper defender if he hadn’t tried to fling his leg in front of Isak. “Unfortunately Isak plants his foot,” he reflected. “It makes it look worse than it is, but that is a natural action for a defender. Put it this way, if my defender does not do that, they are not true defenders. Reckless challenge? I don’t think you see anything like that from Micky.”

The Dane added the two players had been in contact and that they “have sorted it out.”

Slot Optimistic Isak Can Still Play Big Role

Arne Slot, Alexander Isak — Arne Slot had seen an improvement for Isak in recent games. | Alex Pantling/Getty Images

Even though Isak will be sidelined for a significant period of time, missing crucial games in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, Slot opted to be upbeat about the future.

The former Feyenoord boss was also at pains to point out that Isak’s first few months had been extremely challenging, for various reasons, but that he was starting to show the levels he displayed at Newcastle before this injury blow.

“I am confident [Isak] can play a part in the season,” Slot added. “It has been a really challenging and difficult period for him. He joined a new club, he was very excited and you want to show immediately all the qualities that you have. But that was simply impossible.

“Maybe no one understands, but if you have not trained for three or four months on a serious level with the team and you are playing in this league when you need to be on top of your game to impact a game of football... That took, as we all knew, months before we could bring him there because there was no preseason, just games, games, games and no time to train.

“We always knew it would take him time and that is why he is so unlucky that he is now injured because we all saw with his goal at West Ham, with this goal, that he got closer and closer to the player he was last season at Newcastle.”