Jan Paul van Hecke completed 143 passes for Tottenham against Crystal Palace on Saturday. Palace’s entire team managed about 150.
Palace were down to 10 men from the 13th minute, so that number comes with a big asterisk, and we’ll get to it. But Spurs paid a reported £52m in the summer for a centre-back who could do exactly this, and on Saturday night it was impossible to miss.
Most of the talk after the 2-0 win has been about Sandro Tonali being “the double” and about a forward line that still isn’t scoring. Van Hecke did get the goal that settled it, bundling in from the floor on 73 minutes after Dean Henderson had tipped his header onto the bar. We think the rest of his night says more about what Roberto De Zerbi is building.
De Zerbi told everyone what he was buying back in June. “He is a strong, intelligent centre-back who is brave in possession and plays with personality,” he said when the deal was done. “Those are important qualities for the way I want our team to set up.” He’d had the Dutchman for about 50 games at Brighton, so this was no leap of faith.
What did Van Hecke actually do against Palace?
He ran the game from centre-back, and the numbers are daft:
| Van Hecke vs Palace | Number |
|---|---|
| Passes completed | 143 of 151 |
| Touches | 160, the most in the match |
| Completed passes in Palace’s half | 119 |
| Passes into the final third | 29, the most in the match |
| Line-breaking passes | 14, the most in the match |
| Shots | 5, the most in the match |
| Aerial duels won | 4 of 4 |
| Times dribbled past | 0 |
The figure we keep coming back to is 119. More than four in every five of his completed passes came in the opposition half, so for long spells this was a centre-back standing where you’d normally find a midfielder. Spurs completed 759 passes on the night, and nearly one in five of them was his.
For some Spurs context, Cristian Romero completed 141 at Selhurst Park in October 2023, a return the club called record-breaking at the time. Van Hecke went two better, and he scored as well.
Isn’t this just what happens against 10 men?
Partly, yes. Jean-Philippe Mateta’s red card turned the game into attack against defence, and Spurs’ 79.4% possession was their second-highest in a Premier League match since 2003-04. Palace’s 20.6% was the lowest they’ve recorded in the competition. A centre-back was always going to see a lot of the ball.
Here’s the catch for anyone who wants to write the whole thing off as a red-card fluke, though. Look at the season so far:
| Game | Result | Spurs possession | Spurs completed passes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brentford (a) | Lost 3-0 | 58.9% | 461 |
| Newcastle United (h) | Lost 2-0 | 57.5% | 435 |
| Nottingham Forest (a) | Drew 0-0 | 58.6% | 372 |
| Everton (h) | Drew 0-0 | 62.3% | 598 |
| Aston Villa (h) | Lost 3-2 | 63.8% | 497 |
| Manchester United (a) | Drew 1-1 | 50.4% | 385 |
| Coventry City (h) | Won 3-1 | 65.4% | 499 |
| Chelsea (a) | Won 2-0 | 68.5% | 554 |
| Crystal Palace (h) | Won 2-0 | 79.4% | 759 |
Two things jump out. The first is that having the ball was never enough on its own, because 598 completed passes against Everton only brought a goalless draw, and 63.8% against Villa ended in defeat.
The second is the trend in the three wins. Coventry finished with 11 men and Spurs still had 65.4% of the ball. At Stamford Bridge they had 68.5%, and Cole Palmer wasn’t sent off until the 80th minute. So only one of the three was really played against 10 men. Palace exaggerated the picture, but the picture was already there.
Why does De Zerbi want his centre-backs on the ball so much?
Because when a side sits as deep as Palace did, the centre-back is often the only Spur with time to look up. De Zerbi spoke about that control after the game: “We are improving with Archie Gray, with Robertson, the two central backs very good, to take the command of the game.” Take the command is the phrase that matters there.
The way we see it, those 14 line-breaking passes are the whole point. If the centre-back can step in and find a man between the lines himself, Palace’s midfield has to come out to him, and space opens for Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and the wingers. If he can’t, every attack has to be built by the midfield alone, and a packed defence can simply wait for it. It’s also why the right-back call before Leeds matters more than it might look, because the right-back is part of the same build-up.
How far has he come since Brentford?
A long way in 10 weeks. Van Hecke’s debut was the 3-0 defeat at Brentford on 22 August, and De Zerbi’s explanation afterwards didn’t spare him. “Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali are not in the best physical condition. We knew that before the game,” he said. Before the Coventry game, Spurs were bottom of the table.
They’ve now won three in a row, kept clean sheets in the last two and climbed to eighth. Van Hecke knows who he credits. “That’s a big reason why I came here because he gets the best out of me,” he told Sky Sports after the Palace win, adding: “When you keep a clean sheet, that also helps.” De Zerbi’s own verdict on him was short and to the point: “Van Hecke is a tough character, tough personality. I’m very happy for him.”
Is Jan Paul van Hecke worth £52m to Tottenham?
We’re leaning towards yes, but one night against 10 men can’t settle it. What Saturday proved is that he can do the job De Zerbi signed him for when he’s given all the time in the world. A proper test needs someone closing him down.
That should come at Elland Road on Saturday, with a 12.30pm kick-off against a Leeds United side sitting 11th and only a point behind Spurs. Van Hecke doesn’t need another 143 there. We just want to see the same bravery to step forward and pick the forward pass with 11 men in front of him. If that’s still there, N17 will have a centre-back who starts the attacks as well as stopping them, and £52m will start to look like decent business.
