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

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led the team to victory in the European final, delivering the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the side finishing in a disappointing 17th position in his last season in charge.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently 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 have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven told a podcast.

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

"Later, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a mere two points.

The following season, they managed only 11 out of 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid defensively. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"But, coaches study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to get out."

"On one occasion Romero and I walked up to the manager and said we should change some things and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"