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Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's decision to part ways with ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a mere over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to a win in the European final, delivering the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th place in his last season at the helm.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He is a fantastic manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender stated on a podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to the club," he added.

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the club'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 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the squad lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked 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 getting exposed every game on the break," he explained.

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

"But, managers study everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to get out."

"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 responded, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"