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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a mere over two weeks after he guided the team to a win in the European final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the side finishing in a disappointing 17th position in Postecoglou's final campaign at the helm.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Forest on Sunday.

"He was a fantastic manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven told The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to the club," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I texted to my father and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his first ten league matches.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Netherlands international the defender believes the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

"Initially with that system, no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

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