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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge came to an end a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to a win in the European final, delivering the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Forest on Sunday.

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

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to the club," he added.

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success 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 games, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the team was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid at the back. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"However, managers analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We didn't have answers to get out."

"On one occasion Romero and I approached the manager and suggested we need to change some things and play more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"