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Spurs defender Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led the team to victory in the European final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th position in his last campaign at the helm.

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 Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He is a fantastic manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender stated on a 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 brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five games, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 out of 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender believes the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero discussed adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"However, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to get out."

"At one point me and Romero approached the gaffer and said we should change some things and be 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.'"