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Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just over two weeks after he led Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the team's first major trophy in 17 years.

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

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the off-season, but Spurs are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

"He is a really good manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven stated on a podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to the club," he continued.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my dad and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou arrived at Spurs from Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the team lacked 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 at that time but I appreciate 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 said.

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

"But, coaches study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes 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 need to change some things and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"