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Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a mere 16 days after he led the team to a win in the European final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

However, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th position in his last season in charge.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the summer, but Spurs are presently in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He was a fantastic manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender told a podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to the club," he added.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my dad and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Spurs from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 out of 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven believes the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I don't like getting exposed every game on the break," he explained.

"At the beginning under Postecoglou, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, managers study everything and people figured out what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to resolve it."

"On one occasion Romero and I approached the gaffer and said we need to change some things and be more defensive to make sure we win those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"