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Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a mere 16 days after he guided Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

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

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

"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender told a podcast.

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

"Later, when he was dismissed, I texted to my father and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

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

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender thinks 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 manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the break," he explained.

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

"However, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked answers to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero walked up to the manager and suggested we should adjust tactically and be more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"