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Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to a win in the European final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th position in Postecoglou's final campaign in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"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. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to the club," he continued.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Spurs from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five games, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 out of 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 fellow centre-back Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"But, managers study everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to get out."

"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the gaffer and suggested we need to adjust tactically and be more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"