Micky van de Ven explains what really happened with that Thomas Frank 'snub' with Djed Spence

Micky van de Ven has made it clear that his frustrated walk off the pitch with Djed Spence after the defeat to Chelsea was nothing to do with Tottenham boss Thomas Frank.

The 22-year-old Dutchman has been in the headlines for the right reasons since after scoring a wonderful solo Champions League goal with a lightning fast dribble that began on the edge of his own penalty area before slotting past the Copenhagen keeper at the other end of the pitch on Tuesday night.

That goal in the 4-0 victory for 10-man Tottenham, after Brennan Johnson was sent off, came after a weekend when Van de Ven had felt the need to apologise to Frankfollowing an awkward moment after Saturday's derby defeat to Chelsea. The Spurs head coach had seen the Dutchman and full-back Spencewalking towards him and off the pitch and asked the pair to stay on and applaud the frustrated home fans.

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Instead both players refused and walked straight past the Dane and down the tunnel, leaving him staring after them awkwardly. The following day both men went unprompted to Frank's office at their Hotspur Way training ground separately to apologise.

After scoring his wonder goal on Tuesday night, Van de Ven was quick to move on from that frustrated moment and made it clear it was nothing to do with Frank.

"Of course it’s the past so I don’t want to make it bigger than it is. Djed and I walked [off], we were just frustrated after the game and everything got really exploded by the media, it was nothing big to be honest," said the centre-back. "Everyone thinks it was the gaffer, there was nothing to do with the gaffer.

"We were just frustrated after the game because of a bad performance from myself as well. We want to play well and I didn’t play well in my opinion, so I was just frustrated and I just wanted to go quickly inside. As I said it got exploded by the media out of nowhere."

Frank had joked after the central defender's incredible goal on Tuesday: "It seems like we had Lionel Messi turned into Micky van de Ven, roaring down from his own goal all the way to the other end and scored a fantastic goal. I think he's our top scorer in all competitions, so he can keep going. He can keep walking past me if he's angry after a game!"

Van de Ven admitted he and Spurs had let down the supporters on Saturday and that the crowd played their part in everyone bouncing back against Copenhagen.

"The fans were good tonight and I think also it helped that we played a good performance," he said. "Saturday was really frustrating. We played a derby at home against Chelsea and it’s a massive game for us but also for the fans, we didn’t play really well as a team, it was a bad performance from our side. We needed to bounce back in a positive way and I think we did that really well."

Van de Ven went on a similar pitch-long run last season against Everton only to pass to Son Heung-min to score late on, but this time the path was clear for the defender to fire home himself.

"Today I got the ball in my own box, I saw the gap opening every time in front of me when I started dribbling. At one point I thought some players were around me and I came through and I saw the way was open to the goal so I was like ‘ok I keep going now I need to finish this’," he said. "At that point I was saying 'I need to score this one'. Luckily it happened.

"The one against Everton with the assist there were some defenders in front of me. When I was past these defenders [this time] the route was all the way open. Then I was like 'now I need to go myself'."

Van de Ven, who played as a striker when he was a youngster, now has six goals to his name this season, having scored none in his previous campaign. So is he targeting 20 goals now as a forward would?

"No, six goals is a lot already to be honest!" said the Dutchman. "I don’t know where it’s going to end but hopefully I can score more goals this season."

Van de Ven had praise for his compatriot Xavi Simons, who enjoyed his best game for Spurs since joining in a £51million deal from RB Leipzig at the end of the summer transfer window.

"He had a great performance. He really created some big opportunities from our side. It was a good game from his side and also in the last couple of games," said the defender. "Of course he’s in a new country so everything is different. Everyone expects a lot from him straight away, he played good games but you guys (the media) are always on him in certain ways of course. But game by game you see he’s making steps. He was brilliant tonight."