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Tottenham Hotspur defender 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 mere 16 days after he guided the team to victory in the Europa League final, securing the team's first major trophy in 17 years.

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

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the summer, but Spurs are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Forest at the weekend.

"He is a fantastic manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven told The Overlap podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that won silverware to the club," he added.

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

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that unbeaten run was halted with four defeats in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"But, managers analyse everything and people figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the gaffer and suggested we need to change some things and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"