Jan Paul van Hecke demands Tottenham improvement after alarming Aston Villa collapse

Jan Paul van Hecke has admitted Tottenham Hotspur’s start to the season has fallen well below expectations after their 3-2 home defeat against Aston Villa.

Spurs invested more than €350m during the summer after narrowly avoiding relegation last season, with Van Hecke joining from Brighton for around €60m as part of Roberto De Zerbi’s rebuild.

However, Tottenham enter the international break bottom of the Premier League with two points from five matches. Their late goals against Villa were also their first league goals of the campaign.

Van Hecke has played every Premier League minute since arriving in North London, but the Netherlands international has been left frustrated by Tottenham’s performances.

“We had imagined it would be different,” he told Algemeen Dagblad. “The way we play and concede goals is unacceptable.”

Villa went 3-0 ahead before late goals from Conor Gallagher and Van Hecke gave Tottenham hope, but the comeback came too late.

The defender was particularly frustrated by the circumstances surrounding Villa’s opening goal.

With Micky van de Ven temporarily off the pitch, Van Hecke felt Andy Robertson should have recognised Tottenham were effectively playing with ten men and cleared the ball rather than allowing play to continue.

“It’s smarter to kick the ball out, so you can wait until Micky gets back,” he explained.

Van Hecke also revealed the players attempted to lift each other after falling behind, only for Spurs to lose control during the second half.

“You say to each other: ‘Come on, boys. We are much better.’ And then you give it all away completely.”

Van Hecke will now temporarily step away from Tottenham’s difficult start after being selected by new Netherlands manager Xavi Hernández.

The 26-year-old revealed Hernández personally called him before naming his first squad and described their conversation as “very positive”.

Van Hecke is particularly excited by the former Barcelona coach’s attacking philosophy as the Netherlands begin a new period following the World Cup.

For Tottenham, however, the pressure will remain when domestic football returns. A squad rebuilt at significant expense has yet to win a league match, and Van Hecke believes the current performances are nowhere near the level the players should be producing.

Van Hecke can now turn his attention to international duty and his first camp under Hernández before returning to North London.

Tottenham’s next Premier League assignment brings another major test away at Manchester United, with De Zerbi needing his heavily reinforced squad to finally translate its potential into a league victory.