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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to part ways with ex-boss Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a mere 16 days after he led the team to victory in the European final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th place in his last season at the helm.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

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

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he added.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my dad and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.

The following season, they won just 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero discussed taking a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I don't like getting exposed every game on the break," he explained.

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

"But, managers analyse everything and people figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to get out."

"At one point me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we need to change some things and be more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"