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Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge came to an end a mere over two weeks after he led the team to a win in the European final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

However, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a disappointing 17th position in his last campaign in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the summer, but Spurs currently sit 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He is a really good manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven told a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

"Later, when he got sacked, I sent a message to my father and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, 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.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender thinks the squad was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I dislike being vulnerable 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."

"However, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

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