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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 was terminated a just over two weeks after he guided the team to victory in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first major trophy in 17 years.

Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final campaign at the helm.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the summer, but Spurs currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Forest on Sunday.

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

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he added.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, replacing Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

However, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, eventually missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two points.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I dislike getting exposed every game on the break," he said.

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

"But, managers analyse 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 get out."

"At one point Romero and I walked up to the manager and said we should change some things and be more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"