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Spurs defender Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a mere 16 days after he led the team to a win in the European final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

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

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Spurs are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

"He was a fantastic manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender told a podcast.

"I don't know 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 continued.

"Later, when he got sacked, I texted to my dad and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting 26 points from his first ten league matches.

However, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five games, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a mere two points.

The following season, they managed only 11 out of 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the team lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"However, coaches study everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero walked up to the gaffer and suggested we should change some things and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"