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Tottenham Hotspur defender 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 was terminated a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He is a really good 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 Tottenham," he added.

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

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five matches, and the club's form deteriorated, ultimately missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two-point margin.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian 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 solid at the back. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"However, managers study everything and people knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to resolve it."

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