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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

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

Yet, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th position in Postecoglou's final campaign at the helm.

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

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

"I don't know how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my father and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

However, that fine start was halted with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the squad was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

"At the beginning with that system, no team was accustomed to playing against our system. We were playing exceptional football."

"But, managers analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We didn't have answers to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we need to change some things and be more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"