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

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

However, this European success was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign in charge.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

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

"I don't know how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 of their 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the break," he said.

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

"However, managers study everything and people knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero approached the gaffer and suggested we need to adjust tactically and be more defensive to ensure we win 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.'"