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Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to a win in the European final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th place in Postecoglou's final campaign in charge.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He is a really good manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven stated on a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I sent a message to my father and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five games, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 of their 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender believes the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"But, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We didn't have answers to get out."

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we should adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"