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Spurs defender Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led the team to victory in the European final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th position in his last season in charge.

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

"He was a fantastic manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven stated on a podcast.

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

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two-point margin.

The following season, they won just 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the squad was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the break," he explained.

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

"But, managers analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

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