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Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a mere over two weeks after he led Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign at the helm.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham 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. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to the club," he continued.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his first ten league matches.

However, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a mere two points.

The following season, they won just 11 of their 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the team lacked a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Romero discussed adopting a more defensive approach 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 at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

"Initially under Postecoglou, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, coaches study everything and people knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the manager and said we should 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, ensure everybody knows.'"