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Spurs defender Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure was terminated a mere 16 days after he guided the team to a win in the European final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final campaign in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Forest at the weekend.

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

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

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

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

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

The following season, they managed only 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero discussed adopting a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I appreciate 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 said.

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

"However, managers analyse everything and opponents knew 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."

"At one point Romero and I walked up to the manager and said we should change some things and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"